

M 3f%^ _.,mJE^i^^^ 








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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 





LOOKING UP PIGEON FALLS. 



BIG FALLS. 



ImB 



BY 



Harry A. Auer 



1906 
THE ROBERT CLARKE COMPANY 

CINCINNATI 






COPYRIGHT 1906 

THE ROBERT CLARKE COMPANY 
CINCINNATI 



|l.iS«ARY of CONGRESS 
] Two Cnnie? Recpived 

j AUQ 16 1906 

II CoDyrijiiJ, L,)try 
copy/3. 



(iij 



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To my companion of the trail, 

MY MOTHER, 

these sketches are dedicated. 



(iii) 



F©ir(iw©irdl 



In venturing these sketches it has been the author's 
purpose neither to compile a work on woodcraft nor to 
present a book on travel, but rather to take the reader 
out into the Open Places with their larger, calmer view, 
and to conduct him into the Temple of the Great 
Mother Nature in whose aisles he may wander at 
leisure, and breathe the atmosphere of peace and repose 
which pervades the sanctuary. 

If, in the portrayal of The North Country, there is 
somewhat of woodcraft, it is only such as is inevitable 
in a work devoted to life and conditions touching nature 
absolute, and undefiled by man; and, since these 
conditions can only be known by close contact, the 
author has found it convenient to group his sketches 
about one of his own recent pilgrimages. If, to those 
of the inner circle, they shall recall their own journeys 
to the shrine of The Great Mother, and suggest to 
the uninitiated the inexpressible beauty, purity and 
restfulness of God's Out-of-Doors in The North Country 
the author will be happily content 

H. A. A. 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

June 5, 1906. 

(v) 



G©niiteinift^ 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Route 1 

II. The Spirit OF Unrest 8 

III. En Voyage 20 

IV. The Trail 32 

V. At Hawk Lake 48 

VI, Open Water 59 

VII. A Certain Portage 72 

VIII. The Hudson's Bay Company 90 

IX. The Hudson's Bay Company— Continued 108 

X. Antoine 121 

XI. The Camp 136 

XII. The Camp— Continued 147 

XIII. A Certain Bear 157 

XIV. Trout 168 

XV. The River 182 

XVI. The Last Stage 199 



(viii 



Looking up Pigeon Falls Frontispiece 

Big Falls Frontispiece 

Summer Camp of Ojibways , viii 

Lake Gabisiniska •. 17 ' 

Camp Wawa 17 

Hudson s Bay Post (old) at Agawa 32 

The Trail 37' 

The River 37 

Twabinaisay 44 

With Five People and a Dog We Were Low in the Water . 49 

Camp Kawazingema 49 

"Angel Child" and "Dad" 64 

Big Pool at Cat Portage 81 

End of Grand Discharge 81 

Winter Tepee of Ojibways 96 

The River — Thunder Mountain in Distance 113 

Big Falls 113 

Author and Biddequaw on Manitowick Lake 128 v 

Big Falls 133 

Frenchman 's Rapids 140 

River Above Last Camp 145 • 

River Below Last Camp 145 

Entering Pigeon Falls 160 

Author and Biddequaw at Hudson's Bay Post 165 

Antoine and Waugosh 172 

Magpie Falls 177 

Last Dinner on Lake Superior 177 

Chum Running Frenchman's Rapids 192 



(viii) 




SUMMER CAMP OF OJIBWAYS. 



The North Country* 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ROUTE. 



"It is there that we are going with our rods and reels 

and traces. 
To a silent smoky Indian that we know." 

If you have ever camped at night upon the 
mountains, while gazing upward toward the 
dark range of peaks barely discernible as a 
black line against the sky, you may have ob- 
served a tiny flash of light burning on a crest, 
where a moment before darkness held complete 
sway ; and, as you have watched the Indian sig- 
nal fire leap from peak to peak until the whole 
range has flashed the message, you may have 
felt something of wonderment and awe at the 
rapidity with which the primitive mind has 
overreached wide stretches of space, and ad- 
verse physical conditions. 

In the same way the mind of the civilized man 
is frequently leaping in anticipation from the 



The North Country. 

height of one year to the height of the next, 
which is not even in the range of vision. 

It was in August of 1904, when the leaves in 
the Canadian Woods we had just left were turn- 
ing to dull coppers, flat yellows and burning 
reds, that we had come from the forest to the St. 
Lawrence River, where Dad had taken the train 
for "Washington, and Chum and I were conclud- 
ing our luncheon in the dining saloon of the 
steamer, lingering over our coffee and silently 
admiring the beauty of the Thousand Islands, 
yet returning in thought to the silent forest 
from which we had regretfully parted. No 
word was spoken as we gazed out reflectively 
toward the deep green of the Canadian Shore, 
yet were we both living a few quiet moments 
under the spell of happy memories. 

Suddenly I felt that Chum was no longer 
gazing abstractedly toward the forest, but was 
fixing me with new note of inquiry— an un- 
spoken ^'Whither!" and as I in turn wonder- 
ingly met her look, I realized that we had both 
leaped in thought from the height of one year 
to the crest of the year to come, and already 
the future existed in the instant, for the germ 
had suddenly sprung into life. Then began an 



The Route. 

exchange of ideas in an attempt to furnish an 
answer to the ''Whither?" and at the end of 
the conference we both knew that the flood tide 
of the following year would bear us to some- 
where in the wilderness in that part of Canada 
extending northward from Georgian Bay to 
Hudson's Bay known as the North Country; 
but only frequent porings over the maps and 
grave considerations of transportation, suste- 
nance, navigation, trails and guides could fully 
answer the question. 

In planning a trip into the Wilderness one 
must have a reliable map and scan it long and 
often, if he wishes his expedition to be a suc- 
cess, and where to secure the desired map is 
often a perplexing problem; but this need not 
be difficult, for the Canadian Government has 
reasonably accurate charts of the North Woods 
and is very prompt in acceding to the request 
you may prefer for one of them. In fact, I am 
ashamed to relate, the Department of Crown 
Lands once sent me in sections, a map twelve 
feet square of a whole province and even paid 
the postage, which I, in my zeal to secure the 
map, had failed to enclose in making my re- 
quest. 



The North Country. 

In scanning the map one's notice is drawn 
to the fact that it is quite dotted with small 
square spots beside which always appear the 
letters H. B. C. and, in deciding upon your 
route, if you purpose going into the Land of 
Silence beyond the outposts of civilization and 
the fixed dwellings of man, you will be wise to 
take special heed of these dots, which look so 
like oases in the desert, for in very truth these 
are the oases of the Wilderness, to be sure not 
placed there by Allah, but established and main- 
tained with great labor and perseverance by the 
Hudson's Bay Company, to which for many 
reasons is due your thanks. The particular 
significance for you of these trading posts and 
forts is that there you can replenish your de- 
pleted duffel bags with bacon, side meat, sugar, 
flour and rice, as well as secure guides and ob- 
tain whatever else is of real necessity to the 
woods life. Therefore in determining upon a 
route for my journey the consideration was con- 
stantly in my mind, that it must lead past one 
of the posts of the Great Fur Company. 

On looking at the map more closely, one ob- 
serves scattered about in great disorder the 
minute letters P and F, apparently devoid of 



The Route. 

all meaning; and sometimes a dotted bracket 
of varying length beside each of the letters, and 
often some small numerals appearing beside the 
F. One soon discovers, however, that these 
small letters and dotted brackets and numerals 
have large significance and should have a great 
determining influence upon the selection of your 
Wilderness route, for the F and the adjoining 
numerals indicate a falls of certain height 
through which you cannot take your canoe, and 
the P with the dotted bracket marks a portage 
of varying length, where canoes, tents and pro- 
visions must be carried on one's back over an 
Indian trail, which may lead across a mountain 
of barren rock or through a forest full of fallen 
trees and overgrown with seemingly impossi- 
ble tangles. 

After a close study of the map, I finally se- 
lected a stretch of territory of about twenty-five 
hundred square miles area north of Lake Su- 
perior, which ** looked good" in that it was pos- 
sible after a number of days travel by water 
to reach the lower end of it, and thus make a 
start, and in that seventy-five miles from the 
starting point there was a trading post of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, and for the further 



The North Country. 

reason that the intervening distance was an 
absolute wilderness free from lumber camps, 
villages and tourists, the absence of which last 
is indispensable to a successful trip. 

As the trading post was at the Height of 
Land from which the waters flow north into 
Hudson's Bay, and south into Lake Superior 
and Lake Huron, and as the Laurentian Moun- 
tains rose in a rocky wall from Lake Superior 
and became higher with every mile towards 
Hudson's Bay, it became necessary to find a 
water route consisting of lakes rather than 
rivers, for the reason that the rivers descending 
eight hundred feet from the Height of Land are 
so swift as to render navigation up stream in 
canoes out of the question. Finally a series 
of mountain lakes, with nine portages over the 
mountains from one lake to another, was dis- 
covered, whereby we could avoid the swift 
rivers flowing south and still secure a practi- 
cally all water route; so we decided to travel 
north up the lakes and to take advantage of the 
rivers in returning. 

How and where to secure guides was a con- 
sideration which at first seemed to be a matter 
of difficulty, for the guides must be such as 



The Route, 

knew the trails, and there were none to be had 
at the starting point ; but by following the safe 
rule ''When in doubt consult the Hudson's Bay 
Comi^any'Twas able to persuade the manager 
of the trading post on the Height of Land, that 
he could send down through the lakes and over 
the mountains guides and canoes to meet us at 
the starting point on Lake Superior. And having 
made up my mind that our provisions would have 
to be secured at the last outpost of civilization 
on Lake Superior, one hundred and fifty miles to 
the south, and brought with us to the point of 
starting into the forest, I had at last solved the 
problem, and knew that the trip could be made ; 
thus Chum's question asked two months before 
while en route through the St. Lawrence was 
answered, but as November with its snows and 
cutting winds was hardly compatible, with more 
detailed arrangements for a canoe trip, the 
maps and plans for the expedition were laid 
aside until the ** daughters of the year" then 
dying into shadow, should once again ''dance 
into light. ' ' 



The North Country. 
CHAPTER II. 

THE SPIRIT OF UNREST. 

"Now the Four-way Lodge is opened, now the Hunting 
Winds are loose — 
Now the Smokes of Spring go up to clear the brain; 
Now the Young Men's hearts are troubled for the whisper 
of the Trues, 
Now the Red Gods make their medicine again!" 

I believe there are but two men who fully 
comprehend what is meant by ^'the winter of 
our discontent," and they are the fisherman 
and the man into whose soul has come the spirit 
of the trackless Forest. Neither are they found 
to be men of moods; for their industry and 
cheerfulness make bright the grayest and most 
dripping days of November, and they enter joy- 
fully into the strength and dominating spirit of 
December and January as they drape our North 
Temperate Zone in a mantle of white and bind 
all nature with fetters of icy stillness. Nor are 
they disturbed because the trees are mere ghosts 
sighing and moaning in the mystery of the wind 
instead of speaking in the rustle of their leafy 
tongues, for they love and comprehend the 



The Spirit of Unrest. 

strength of these '^bare ruined choirs, where 
late the sweet birds sang/' and they realize that 
their brothers, the trees, are only sleeping, 
dreaming new dreams of beauty, and in their 
refreshing slumbers gathering new strength and 
life for the glorious summer. 

But February brings a subtle change over 
their spirits, a restlessness out of all har- 
mony with the unchanging rest of nature, and 
the unrelenting grasp of Winter. At first the 
restless spirit is weak and unassertive manifest- 
ing itself only in uneasy wonderment at the per- 
sistency of so much ice and snow, but daily 
increasing in strength until a deep unrest has 
fallen upon them, which at last becomes a real 
and hostile discontent. Why this is so I cannot 
tell; perhaps the nature of these men is more 
delicately attuned than the nature of things 
about them, for, while no stir of awakening life 
has come to the roots of the trees deep down in 
the earth, and the crystalled streams and lakes 
are still held in their icy bondage, yet the minds 
of these brothers of the rod and the trail are 
awake with new life, new dreams, and new, old 
longings. Their thoughts, which have been con- 
tentedly traveling back over the trails of the 



The North Country. 

past summer, are now leaping forward in joy- 
ous anticipation to the streams that will soon 
become living waters. 

I know an honest gentleman whose hair is 
silvered by the frost of sixty winters and whose 
nature is mellowed by the warmth of as many 
summers, and who suffers greatly from rheu- 
matism in his lower limbs. In January and Feb- 
ruary you draw in toward the open fire in his 
large, rough stone chimney corner, and smoke 
the tobacco which you find on the big slab above 
the fireplace, and as the flames from the logs 
leap up the chimney in response to the howling 
blasts without, this elder brother will delight 
your soul with tales of the speckled beauties he 
has taken in the long ago from the Nipigon, the 
Ausable, and streams in the Maine woods ; and 
he will tell you of the trout he killed last year in 
the North Country. 

While his devotion to his large business in- 
terests is too constant to give him enough spare 
moments to become the subject of moods or to 
make him the slave of his physical pain, yet at 
the close of March when you sink into your fa- 
vorite chair and thrust out your feet toward his 
fire, you will be surprised to hear the old gentle- 

10 



The Spirit of Unrest. 

man mention bis rheumatism for the first time. 
He will tell you that in March and April his 
pain becomes intense and quite intolerable, and 
he will growl in strong, well set phrases because 
the ice remains thick upon the streams with no 
signs of breaking up ; but you will give him your 
silent and sympathetic understanding, for he 
has a remedy for his rheumatism which he can- 
not apply until the ice has gone from the 
streams. 

But, in the month of May, this delightful 
comrade, so crippled with pain that he must be 
assisted on to the train, departs for the North, 
and there begins his cure. Scorning boots, or 
waders of any kind and wearing two suits of 
liea\y woolen underwear beneath his outer gar- 
ments, this cripple plunges into the ice water 
of the North, and for four weeks does he wade 
the trout streams waist deep, for hours at a 
time, casting his flies into the pools and eddies ; 
then he tramps through the forest back to camp, 
and, after sitting about the friendship fire en- 
joying an after supper pipe, he finally rolls up 
in his blankets for the night on a layer of bal- 
sam spread upon the ground. Yet, at the end 
of a month of this heroic treatment, wonderful 

11 



The North Country. 

to see, this former cripple has been cured, his 
eye has a new light, and he walks with the 
springy step of youth. 

For myself March and April bring so deep 
an unrest that it is often difficult to keep my 
attention fixed upon such necessary matters as 
briefs and pleadings, and at the close of day I 
find my fingers tingle with a sensation that can 
only be eased by the touch of the cork grip 
handles of my rods. At last these are dug out 
of the attic, duly inspected and jointed, and in 
high glee switched across the room, jeopardiz- 
ing all things frangible. The fly book is brought 
forth and note is made of its depleted condition ; 
suddenly I remember that I must tie several 
dozen six-feet leaders. Then the maps with the 
red ink routes traced upon them, after reposing 
in the bookcase for five months, are brought 
forth, and my unrest has at last begun to as- 
sume point and direction. 

As Chum has for the last five years been a 
charter member in all of my journeys into the 
North Woods, and since Dad willingly became 
the third party, it remained only to secure two 
acceptable recruits. The Doctor, full of zeal 
and unsatisfied woods longing, became a wel- 

12 



The Spirit of Unrest. 

come addition, and ''Bill," in his desire to give 
his competitors in the steel industry a rest, as 
well as to secure a much needed vacation for 
himself, fell easy prey to my word pictures of 
a new and untraveled route through the I^and 
of Silence ; thus was the cast made up and ac- 
tive preparations for the journey begun. 

In taking the trail into the wilderness there is 
but one single rule — *'to go light,"— and if Mr. 
White ever makes another expedition into the 
Forest, I trust he will give us an account of it 
and have a chapter on "going light" at least 
iifty pages in length, but that instead of print- 
ing it he will talk it into a phonograph in his 
most earnest and convincing tone, and arrange 
with his publisher that a record disk accompany 
each copy of his work ; I would do this myself, 
even at the risk of becoming tedious were it not 
for the fact that I have too many other things 
about which I wish to make mention. I say this 
in all seriousness, for I recently saw a party 
of four people about to take the trail with an 
outfit that would have taxed the endurance of 
an elephant train. They had tent poles, braces 
and pegs, and extra tent poles, braces and 
pegs, in several courses weighing at least sixty 

13 



The North Country. 

pounds,— that in a Forest where such things 
can be made with an ax in ten minutes ; they had 
heavy wire-mesh cot beds with an excess of bed- 
ding ; three heavy dry goods packing boxes, five 
feet each way, made of one inch stuff, and con- 
taining the Lord only knows what; and lastly 
dress suit cases enough to do complete justice 
to a Newport season. In response to my inno- 
cent query as to whether they were about to 
establish a new Hudson's Bay Post, an anaemic 
with a Cassius-like look gazed at me in open- 
mouthed amazement and replied, ^'We are go- 
ing on a two weeks ' tramp into the woods. ' ' I 
was speechless, but could have shed tears of 
sympathy for their guides. 

In the matter of clothing for the North 
Country simplicity is not only elegance, but the 
only road to happiness. Our party all wore the 
heaviest weight woolen under-garments we 
could obtain. Chum's raiment consisted of a 
heavy gray woolen waist with bloomers, and 
short skirt of the same material to the knee, a 
sweater, and light rain coat, while the rest of us 
wore woolen golf trousers, gray flannel shirts 
and sweaters ; all of us wore broad rimmed hats 

14 



The Spirit of Unrest. 

in order to protect the face and eyes from sharp 
twigs and branches in going through the brush. 
Footwear is a most important item; my own 
opinion is that moccasins are out of the ques- 
tion for traveling a rough trail, as the stones, 
sharp twigs and fallen branches bruise the feet 
so quickly as to make traveling a real torture; 
again moccasins furnish no support for the 
ankle, and quickly become water-soaked; their 
single virtue is their lightness, and while they 
are ideal for a canoe and for snowshoeing, yet 
their vices on the trail weigh too heavily against 
them. Boots also are in disfavor on account of 
their weight and lack of elasticity. I believe 
the only ideal foot wear is the oil-tanned shoe- 
pac, with a thin insole. For my uninitiated 
reader, I must explain that it is a thick elk skin 
moccasin, tanned with oil, but light, soft and 
pliable, giving elasticity to the step, yet protect- 
ing the foot from stones and twigs ; it reaches up 
the leg about fourteen inches thus supporting 
and protecting the ankle; and lastly it is abso- 
lutely impervious to water, for you may get it 
full of water, but turn it upside on a peg and 
in a moment it is dry, as the water cannot soak 
into the oil tanned leather. Their best recom- 

15 



The North Country. 

mendation is the fact that on the trail in sum- 
mer most of the jib ways of the North wear 
them; and I myself have worn them on trails 
over which I shall shortly conduct you, and have 
suffered no discomfort. 

Inside the shoepacs you should wear the 
heaviest of woolen sox, such as can only be ob- 
tained in the far North. I cannot speak too 
strongly in favor of woolen under-garments for 
at midday in the blaze of the sun, on a steep 
mountain trail they were not uncomfortable, 
while at night or when one is wet to the skin, 
they are warm and indispensable. Two bandana 
handkerchiefs completed our wearing apparel, 
and for extra clothing we carried one suit of 
underwear and one pair of sox in which we slept 
at night and to which we could always change 
if we became wet ; thus simplicity meant for us 
to carry nothing except what was indispensable. 

Respecting tents, the lightest waterproof is 
the best, first because it is waterproof, does not 
spray or leak and weighs no more after a rain 
than before, and secondly, because it is light, 
weighing about twelve pounds less than the can- 
vas duck tent. An inner tent of fine mesh cheese 
cloth made longer than the waterproof tent, so 

16 



I 



The Spirit of Unrest. 

that it drags six inches on the ground, is a great 
protection against flies and the best assurance 
of a night's rest. 

For blankets we found the heaviest five point 
Hudson's Bay red double blankets very com- 
fortable, even for the summer. A rubber pon- 
cho six feet square is quite necessary; by day 
you wrap and strap it tightly about your 
blankets, extra undersuit, sox and towel, and 
use your pack for a seat in the canoe, and no 
matter how it rains, your blankets and under- 
wear are dry for you to sleep in; and at night 
your poncho spread upon the hemlock boughs 
under your blankets serves to keep them from 
becoming damp. By having eyelets made on 
the sides and one end you can lace it up and use 
it as a sleeping bag, if the weather becomes too 
cold, or if you are out all night away from the 
camp. 

In addition to rods, reels, landing nets and fly 
books, a short two-pound hunting ax, to hang 
by a leather holster at your belt, is of great im- 
portance ; in fact it is the most necessary article 
of all your outfit and without which one should 
never leave camp. A long sheath knife to strap 
to your belt will also prove exceedingly useful. 

(2) 17 



I 



The North Country. 

There should also be a stock of sunple medicines 
for the party, besides needle and thread and a 
hot water bottle ; this last is not only important 
in case of emergency but on a cold night will 
equal five pounds of blankets in keeping one 
warm. Tobacco, rifle and shotgun with ammuni- 
tion will complete the personal outfit, and, while 
we could not have gotten along well with less, 
yet we found this quite sufficient for all our 
cardinal needs. 

In the matter of provisions, the nature of 
woods traveling and the limitations of carry- 
ing capacity leave but little choice of articles for 
food. The staples will be bacon, side meat, 
flour, rice, corn meal, peas, beans, sugar, tea, 
dried apples and prunes, in quantities varying 
with the size of the party and length of the 
journey. The amount of sugar can be greatly 
reduced by taking a bottle of saccharine tab- 
lets, and a bottle of citric acid tablets makes a 
palatable lemonade without necessitating car- 
rying the weight and bulk of lemons; in addi- 
tion to furnishing a refreshing beverage the 
citric acid will also prevent scurvy. Whatever 
else you may take is a matter of taste, only 
beware of canned tomatoes, corn, peas or 

18 



The Spirit of Unrest. 

beans, for you are carrying on your back about 
eighty per cent, of water, and by taking dried 
corn, beans and peas you are greatly reducing 
your weight. Of potatoes only enough to last 
a few days should be taken, as they are too 
heavy on the trail. 

Lastly, at your point of departure do not pack 
your outfit and provisions in wooden boxes, for 
they are not only heavy but by reason of their 
shape most inconvenient to transport; but use 
instead heavy waterproof duffel bags, twelve 
inches in diameter and thirty-six inches long. 
Then you will leave your attire of the city in 
trunks at the hotel, and arrayed in woods cos- 
tume, with hunting ax and knife attached to 
your cartridge belt, you arc ready to depart 
for the Wilderness. 



19 



The North Country, 



CHAPTER III. 

EN VOYAGE, 

"Dark behind it rose the forest, 
Rose the black and gloomy pine trees, 
Rose the firs with cones upon them; 
Bright before it beat the water. 
Beat the clear and sunny water. 
Beat the shining Big-Sea Water." 

The fishing boat which cruises up the North 
Shore leaves the last outpost of civilization 
about three o'clock in the afternoon, and with- 
in an hour you have steamed out of reach of 
mails and telegraph beyond the world you 
have known, into a world of mystery and si- 
lence. Perhaps you have come North by boat 
through Lake Huron or Lake Michigan, but no 
sooner have you arrived on Lake Superior 
than you feel a change that is not easily ac- 
counted for; your captain will note your ex- 
pression of wonderment at the new impression, 
and, in subdued voice, will tell you that which 
is perfectly obvious to you ''you are on Lake 
Superior. ' ' Ask him to explain what he means 

20 



En Voyage, 

and he could not possibly do it, yet you too feel 
the subtlety of the change. 

Perhaps it is the fact that Superior is larger 
and deeper than the other lakes ; it may be that 
the change is attributed to the fact that the air 
is very cold, or to the knowledge that the shore 
is uninhabited wilderness stretching North- 
ward to the Arctic wastes. I am sure I cannot 
explain what it is that comes over your party 
and causes every one to speak in lowered voice, 
yet you feel that the spirit of mystery dwelling 
on the borders of the North Country is upon 
you and everything is different from what you 
have ever known before ; even the familiar chug- 
chug of the propeller has an unusual, far 
away and pleasing sound. 

But the spirit of mystery, even though it be 
the dominating spirit, does not reign here alone, 
for there is the unsurpassing beauty of the 
Laurentian Mountains rising from the North 
Shore hundreds of feet and forming a rocky 
wall across Canada from New Brunswick to the 
Eocky Mountains; they are the same Lauren- 
tians we knew and loved in Quebec Province, 
and covered with the same deep green forest, 

21 



i 



The North Country. 

only they are higher in their towering strength 
and grander in the longer reaches they present 
to the vision, as they stretch along the shore 
until they melt into the hazy distance. 

There were about eighteen fellow passengers 
aboard the boat, all quiet, earnest people, about 
to take the trail at various points, where the 
captain, who is a most accommodating gentle- 
man, will put you ashore and will call for you 
again two weeks or a month thereafter as you 
may indicate to him. It was eleven o'clock 
when all crowded on the deck to behold the 
wonderful Northern Lights as they radiated 
from behind the mountains, and leaped toward 
the zenith; after palpitating in their white, 
opaque light for half an hour they began to fade 
leaving the mountains in deep blackness, and us 
in a mood for dreams. 

If the North Shore has charmed you with its 
mystery by twilight, it will fill you with rapture 
in the early morning sunshine. It was seven 
'clock in the morning when the boat turned in 
toward a crescent cove; the mountains in the 
background, rising rank upon rank, were rich in 
their glorious greens, with one flank in deep 
shadow, while the other was flooded with light, 

22 



En Voyage. 

with here and there jets of white vapor rising 
from various niches like the smoke from camp 
fires. 

As the steamer slowly approached the shore 
to permit ten of our fellow passengers to dis- 
embark with their boats and outfits for the 
narrow strip of sand, the log huts and cabins 
of an abandoned Hudson's Bay trading post 
and a number of tents belonging to parties al- 
ready in camp were easily discernible. A 
little to the left and flowing swiftly down be- 
tween the rifts in the hills murmured the 
Agawa, whose charm and beauty Mr. White 
has in detail so vividly presented to us in his 
inimitable ''Forest." Ten miles back on the 
river are the Falls beyond which you will not 
attempt to go, and nine miles north from the 
river, after traveling up the mountains through 
an almost impassable forest, you reach the 
shores of the wonderful crescent Kawagama 
with its wooded islets set as emeralds, one in 
each horn of the crystal water. But the 
Agawa was not attractive to us this summer, 
for there were too many people to break in 
upon its peaceful solitude and mar its quiet 
beauty. 

t 23 



The North Country. 

In coasting along the North Shore one meets 
a number of interesting people, the most enter- 
taining of whom will probably turn out to be 
Indians. Last summer I met an Ojibway 
named ** Peter," from the Indian Village of 
Batchawaung, who had been guiding a party 
up the Agawa. He told me that the trout were 
not rising and that the river was overrun with 
noisy tourists, so he conducted his party down 
to the Montreal River which they ascended for 
a distance. 

** Peter" and I held council for nearly two 
hours during which he told me many mirth- 
producing tales, but that which gave me the 
most happiness was his narrative of an event 
on the Montreal River. I cannot give you 
"Peter's" story, as no one but that Indian can 
do it justice, but it seems that one evening his 
party was camping at the mouth of a small 
canyon, the entrance to which was very narrow, 
when one of the members beheld a red deer 
vanish into the entrance between the rocky 
walls. Peter knew the canyon was a blind one 
without any outlet except where the deer had 
entered, so he grabbed several leather tump 
lines and calling ''Come, me show it fun!" 

24 



En Voyage. 

started for the entrance ; there he stationed two 
of the party to prevent the deer's escape while 
with the other two of the party he made for the 
deer. After several vain attempts to catch the 
animal, he was finally driven into a corner, when 
all three hunters with a yell made a rush and 
tackled him, and notwithstanding his kicks and 
struggles they threw him to the ground and sat 
upon him while ** Peter" tied him up, all the 
while reassuringly addressing the captive ''Oh, 
no, little deer, me no hurt you, me no choke 
you, me just tie you tip." After the captive 
was securely tied ''Peter" tells me his picture 
was duly taken, after which he was given his 
freedom. 

At a little fish station where the boat stopped 
for an hour, I espied an Indian named "Twa- 
binaisay," sitting on a fish barrel; I joined him 
and we had a smoke and council until the boat 
was ready to leave. "Twab" had been up the 
Agawa and reported the fishing poor this sea- 
son, but he had gone over the trail to Ka- 
wagama and there the trout were unlimited, 
both as to their number and willingness to rise 
to any kind of a bug or fly. I was seriously 
concerned to notice the crape bands about both 

25 



The North Country. 

of Twabinaisay's arms and hat, but my relief 
was very real when he informed me that he 
was in mourning for his ''fourth wife." 

In cruising northward from Agawa the 
steamer in calm weather threads its way be- 
tween the picturesque rocky Caribou Islands, 
which are so wonderful in their blended color 
tones of blue grays, neutral reds and soft 
greens, all minor notes which remind one of a 
Chopin nocturne. Many miles beyond the Car- 
ibou Islands, at about two o'clock, the steamer 
turned into a large curving bay; along the 
shore were to be seen several buildings of an 
Indian Mission, and half way up the mountain, 
about three hundred feet above the lake, ap- 
peared the beautiful falls of the Bear River, a 
tumbling mass of white framed in the deep 
green of the forest covered mountain. 

But short time, however, was given us for 
contemplation as our five duffel bags and outfit 
and personal packs had to be taken ashore, and 
at last, after having traveled by water for five 
days, we stood upon the North Shore and were 
ready to begin our journey. Within a hun- 
dred yards of the lake we started over the 
mountain from which the trees had been burned 

26 



En Voyage. 

by forest fires leaving only scattered dead pines 
pointing skyward, and adding to the wild 
beauty of the large masses of bare white rocks 
running in mazes and terraces as far as the eye 
could reach. 

Somewhere across the hills eight miles dis- 
tant we had been assured two months before 
that four Indians would travel down from the 
Height of Land in four canoes and would meet 
us on that day; and you may imagine the 
anxiety and doubt as to whether we should meet 
the guides that filled our minds as we journeyed 
over the mountains. But our relief and hap- 
piness were great when we found on arriving 
at the rendezvous at four o'clock, four woods- 
men, much surprised at the sight of a lady in 
the party, they not having known that Chum 
was a Charter Member, but seemingly delighted 
with conditions as they found them, for they 
were all wreathed in smiles. 

Their leader, a man of about fifty years, tall, 
straight and well built, presented me with a 
letter from the Factor of the Hudson's Bay 
Post to the North introducing to me Antoine 
Soulier, my head guide, whom he was sending 
me three days before, with three full blooded 

27 



The North Country. 

Ojibway Indians, down through the forest to 
meet me as he had promised. Antoine then 
informed me **Me part Injun, part French; 
Injuns no speak him English. ' ' 

At once there began an introduction scene 
no less sincere and significant on account of its 
lack of polite phrases, for these were the men 
who were to take us safely through the mazes 
of the forests and the dangers of the falls and 
rapids, and who were to be at once our guides 
and friends in the Land of Silence. 

In order I presented each of our party to 
Antoine who seemed to enjoy the ceremony and 
whose open smile of welcome at once won the 
confidence of Chum; women seem to under- 
stand men at a glance, and from the first hand 
shake of greeting these two were friends. 
Next we all passed down the receiving line 
consisting of the three Indians with the same 
formality as if we were greeting the receiving 
party at a Presidential reception at the White 
House, but with considerable more of interest. 
To be sure there were no stilted, ''Pleased to 
see you!" or ''Delighted to meet you!" in re- 
sponse to our words of greeting, but the firm 
pressure of the hand and the kindly smiles that 

28 



En Voyage. 

greeted us spoke plainer than words the wel- 
come which these sturdy Forest sons could 
not voice. 

There was old Biddequaw, and I use the 
word **old" with a meaning of affection, for 
he was to become endeared to us all, a short 
sturdy man of fifty-five years ; his name means 
''a bundle of sticks." Next was Neshwabun, 
aged thirty, of short and slender build, whose 
name, meaning *'two tomorrows" had doubt- 
less been an inspiration of some fond parent 
dreaming of a large future for the offspring. 
Last in order was Masinaqua, meaning **a 
little piece of paper," aged about twenty-two, 
and lithe, and tall and slender as a spruce tree. 
After inspecting the five duffel bags, and mar- 
veling at our lack of baggage, but supposing 
we had left some of it in our rear, Antoine 
asked, "What you do with baggage?" and to 
my reply that we had nothing else he ventured 
the comment **It is good!" while the Indians 
on being informed, in unison uttered an ap- 
proving **Ugh!" 

As it was after four o'clock and we desired 
to reach the distant end of a near-by lake be- 
fore night, we portaged our outfit to Lake 

29 



The North Country, 

Wawa— the lake of the wild goose— and started 
in our canoes for the further end six miles 
away, which we reached without incident be- 
fore six 'clock, and at once began to make our 
preparations for a camp at the edge of the lake 
under the protection of the mountains rising 
at our backs. 

Chum immediately proceeded to give the In- 
dians a demonstration of the fact that she was 
of the right fibre for the Woods; though she 
has been with me in the Woods for four years, 
yet she is not able to repress her zeal for work- 
ing a likely bit of water, no matter what the 
conditions,— her only concern being whether it 
looks promising. Thus, while the guides were 
engaged in cutting wood, making fire, erecting 
tents and preparing the evening meal, and the 
rest of us were busy cutting hemlock for our 
beds. Chum jointed her rod and tied some flies 
on her leader. Some dead trees fallen into the 
lake appealed to her fancy as affording an op- 
portunity for casting into the deeper water, so 
she climbed out upon the logs and began to cast 
her flies. 

Suddenly I was aroused by the Indians ex- 
claiming ''Oquemaque! Oquemaque!"— ''the 

30 



En Voyage. 

lady! the lady!"— and I looked up in time to 
witness Chum, climbing out of the ice water of 
the lake, dripping but smiling as if the joke 
had been on some one else, and still clinging to 
her rod. Our most insistent urging and solici- 
tude could not induce her to change her clothes, 
for she had no others, but she scorned our sug- 
gestions that she go to bed, for Chum is too 
much of an enthusiast to be discomfited by an 
ice water bath, and she had her supper on the 
ground with the rest of us and then sat about 
the blazing friendship fire, until the night air 
began to chill our backs and Antoine suggested 
that as we would breakfast at five-thirty the 
next morning, we had best turn into our tents 
and get our rest, for on the morrow we should 
take the long trail over the mountains. 



31 



The North Country. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TEAIL. 

"Passing through the silent forest, — ■ 
Through interminable forests. 
Over meadow, over mountain. 
Over river, hill and hollow." 

Wawa Lake is a basin of ice water about six 
miles long and a mile wide with the mountains 
rising from the shores like the sides of a tea- 
cup, and at the base of the mountains we had 
made our camp. At five-thirty in the morning 
we were awakened by the long wierd Indian 
call **Whoo! Whoo!" and, as we issued from 
our tents to wash in the lake, the mists still 
hung thick upon the water, obscuring the other 
shore, but, before six o'clock, while eating our 
breakfast on the bottom of an upturned canoe, 
the sun, which had been shining for several 
hours began to dispel the gray haze, dis- 
closing the mountains bathed in the morn- 
ing light. Antoine pointed out the moun- 
tain top at our back which seemed quite near, 
and informed us that on the crest nestled a 

32 




Hudson's bay post (old) at agawa. 



The Trail. 

small lake unconnected with Wawa, and to 
reach which we should take the Trail beginning 
at our camp and leading upwards for half a 
mile; so shortly after six o'clock we struck 
camp, tied up our tents, duffel bags and per- 
sonal packs, and were ready for the ascent. 

To the uninitiated ''taking the Trail" has a 
romantic sound, which suggests to the imag- 
ination a delightful stroll along a smooth path, 
through the cool woods leisurely enjoying the 
crisp mountain air, breathing deep of the spicy 
odors of the pines and balsam, and having an 
altogether delightful ramble; perhaps it is the 
pleasant walk of your picinc days that comes 
into your mind as you think of the Trail. But 
the reality is different from anything the fancy 
has ever pictured ; you are surprised at first to 
find how far the fact has left behind your fond- 
est dream of woodland beauty and quietude; 
you will also be surprised to discover that in 
the North Country ''Trail" and "path" are 
not synonymous. 

There the word means only a route by which 
it is possible to penetrate through the forest, 
provided your physical attainments are suf- 
ficient; it has not the slightest intendment of 

(3) 33 



The North Country, 

dryness or smoothness or broadness and free- 
dom from obstructions; indeed, if it has any 
meaning other than that of a possible route 
through the wilderness, it is the contrary of 
your pictured Trail. And since you can only 
know it by experience, I am going to give you 
my actual experience on the day we left Wawa 
Lake. 

It must be remembered that we had provi- 
sions sufficient for five people and four guides 
for three weeks, and that these supplies, to- 
gether with three tents, blankets and personal 
packs, axes, guns, cooking outfit and fishing 
tackle, weighed eight hundred pounds. Then 
there were two all cedar, eighteen-foot Peter- 
borough canoes, weighing one hundred and 
sixty pounds each and one Peterborough fifteen 
feet long weighing one hundred pounds. In 
the North Country horses are as rare as ele- 
phants, and, were it possible to get one over 
the trails, it would command quite as much at- 
tention for purposes of exhibition to the In- 
dians, though its sphere of usefulness would 
end with the exhibition. But as no horse ever 
lived that could travel the Indian Trails, all 
of the provisions, canoes and baggage had to 

34 



The Trail. 

be transported on our backs and tbe backs of 
the guides. 

Never will you think of an Indian Trail but 
what the first thing that comes into your mind, 
to the exclusion of all else, will be a "tump 
line ; ' ' this is the means by which your baggage 
and provisions will be transported. It con- 
sists of a broad leather band about three inches 
wide and fifteen long and at least a quarter of 
an inch in thickness. At each end it tapers 
down to about an inch in width and runs out 
into a strap nearly six feet in length. 

The straps of the *'tump line" are firmly 
tied about your duifel bags, tents or packs 
within about ten inches of the broad leather 
band, and you are ready to take the Trail. 
You then lift the pack and place the broad 
leather band about your forehead at the place 
where your pompadour should be and duck 
your head slightly forward thus bringing the 
weight directly behind the shoulders so that 
the pressure upon the head is downward rather 
than a direct backward pull. Then you place 
another duffel bag or a pack across the top of 
the one to which your **tump line" is tied. 
Your first experience will make you feel more 

35 



The North Country, 

like a two-legged jackass than anything else 
you have erer known. 

Do not make the mistake of substituting a 
''pack basket" for a ''tump" for no pack 
basket ever invented can take its place when 
making a long journey, for the reason that the 
former is limited in its carrying capacity to 
the size of the basket, but the latter is limited 
only by the weight which a human back and 
head can sustain; I have seen Masinaqua carry 
three hundred pounds in this manner with ap- 
parent ease. 

Having adjusted our packs, the guides lead- 
ing with one hundred and sixty pounds each, 
we started up the Trail, each of us, excepting 
Chum, carrying eighty pounds. For the first 
ten minutes we all agreed on the "tump line" 
as taking first prize as a de^'ice for slow tor- 
ture, but having made up our minds that the 
torture was necessary we began to suffer less; 
besides the tendency of the weight from behind 
to throw us over the mountain side proved a 
decided diversion, so that the inconvenience be- 
came a secondary importance to keeping on 
the Trail, though we were by no means uncon- 
scious of our burdens. Fresh moose tracks 

36 



The Trail, 

also furnished food for speculation, and within 
half an hour we were nearing the end of our 
first portage. On the crest, however, was a 
stretch of black muck to traverse which was 
presented an interesting problem; here the 
guides had felled some five-inch spruce trees. 
My attempt at crossing was not an entire suc- 
cess, but nothing happened worse than being 
thrown from the logs almost up to the top of 
my shoepacs in the slime, and at length we 
were at the edge of the lake where our packs 
were dropped to the ground. 

There lay the lake, a large spring, a half 
mile in extent, bubbling out of the hills, but to 
our surprise other hills, not seen from below, 
rose still higher from the further shore across 
which we must again portage. But as there 
were other packs to be brought up, we started 
back down the Trail for a second trip. For 
the first time we had a chance to raise our eyes 
from the Trail and drink in the woodland 
beauty and sniff the cool spicy air of the forest, 
than which nothing is more refreshing; and 
to make note that while the Trail was only a 
foot wide, yet it was entirely distinct and of 
sufficient width between the trees to allow the 

37 



The North Country. 

guides, carrying the canoes upturned on their 
heads, a free passage as they came up the 
mountain. 

On our second ascent we suffered none of the 
torture of our first trip, nor did the packs seem 
so hostile in their purpose to throw us off the 
mountain, and we were quickly back to the lake. 
There we embarked our canoes for the further 
shore to begin our longest portage of two and 
one-half miles over the mountains, on a Trail 
which was unusually clear and smooth and 
which savored somewhat of a picnic. 

One is surprised at the ease and rapidity 
with which the Indians travel over a Trail and 
how quickly one is left in the rear, but you 
soon learn to appreciate the fact that the faster 
you travel the sooner the pack is taken from 
your back ; that a pack is heavier when you are 
going slowly than when you are traveling rap- 
idly, and that it is as easy to go fast as to go 
slow. One also notices that the Indians do not 
tread upon stones, twigs and branches fallen 
across the Trail when they can be avoided, for 
they are not only not comfortable to the bot- 
tom of the feet, but in time will make them 
sore; so you come instinctively to step over or 

38 



The Trail 

between the stones and branches and you are 
beginning to take a decided interest in the mere 
fact of covering distance. 

But two stops were made and at each no 
sooner was the pack deposited on the ground, 
than its weight was entirely forgotten as we 
gave ourselves to the enjoj^nent of a restful 
pil^e. It was on this portage that the black 
flies which were very numerous, seemed de- 
termined upon giving us a warm welcome, and 
through the woods, particularly in nearing the 
lakes, the mosquitoes serenaded us in friendly 
greeting, but we were fortunate in having a 
''dope" that was effective and our joy there- 
after was great, in traveling through places 
particularly infected with these winged pests 
of the woodsman, to note that, while thousands 
of insects would approach within ten inches of 
our ** doped" anatomy, yet not one would touch 
us. Even the dreaded deer fly which has the 
swoop of an eagle and the bite of a tiger re- 
mained at a respectful distance from our aro- 
matic ointment. Thus were we immune by 
day, while at night our interior cheese cloth 
tents were a complete defense against all at- 
tacks. 

39 



The North Country. 

There were many things to interest and di- 
vert us on this portage; frequent tracks of 
moose and deer and the announcement by the 
guides as to how fresh they were furnished a 
constant theme for wonderment, for these for- 
est people knew at a glance whether the tracks 
had been made the same morning or a week be- 
fore. At our second resting place we discov- 
ered partridges in the spruce timber so tame 
that the Doctor fired six shots at one with his 
revolver without causing the bird to fly ; finally 
I bagged him with the rifle and then shot an- 
other through the head just before we reached 
the end of the portage at Goose Grass Lake. 
After crossing this small lake, tired out, we 
stopped for dinner, and the guides served us 
with bacon, tea, bread and butter, potatoes, 
apple sauce and partridges, to which we did 
full justice. After dinner we made a short 
portage over a hill about a quarter of a mile 
and we were at Lake Gabisiniska, another 
small spring lake. 

Thus far, while the Trail had been up the 
mountains, yet it had been at all times discern- 
ible, free from obstacles and generally of soft 
earth, comfortable to the feet; but from Gabis- 

40 



The Trail. 

iniska we were destined to have a variation, 
and to learn new lessons before we should 
reach Lake Kiiskabi, a mile and a half distant. 
Beginning at the other side of Gabisiniska 
there is no level stretch on which to get your 
stride before starting up the mountain, but you 
begin at the very water's edge to toil upward 
over an exceedingly difficult Trail. The moun- 
tain in parts has been burned off by forest 
fires, leaving no shade and exposing the bare 
rocks. There was but little soil at any place 
and the Trail was so faint that frequently I 
was obliged to stop and scrutinize the ground, 
and only by observing that some twigs were 
pressed flat could I determine that I was on 
the Trail at all. Here we saw very fresh signs 
of bear, for in several places we came upon 
rotten tree trunks, fallen upon the ground, that 
had been recently torn open by the bears 
searching for ants, of which they are very fond. 
The Indians would sniff the ground and the 
tree trunks and announce that the animals had 
been there no longer than an hour before; but 
in spite of their recent presence we failed to 
come within sight of one. 

41 



The North Country. 

As we men traveling with our packs went 
much faster than Chum, it frequently hap- 
pened that she was alone half a mile from any 
of us, though some of us were always both 
ahead of and behind her, traveling back and 
forth over the trail, for we always had to make 
two trips. She afterwards confessed to me 
that she was "somewhat lonely,'* and when 
she would call and receive no response, she 
would wonder if she were still following the 
Trail, but by getting down on her knees and 
looking at the ground she was able to keep 
from wandering. Bear tracks also made her 
somewhat uneasy, but the Smith & Wesson at 
her belt and my assurance that bears were 
more afraid of her than she could possibly be 
of them gave her courage as she traveled on 
alone. 

Half way over the portage we came to the 
edge of the burned section, and, as our packs 
had become heavy, we sat down in a patch of 
large blueberries, so numerous as to literally 
form a carpet. They were quite as large as 
cherries, and we lay down and enjoyed the most 
delicious berries we had ever tasted. When 

42 



The Trail. 

we had feasted until it seemed we could eat no 
more, we would lie in the sun and rest, then 
roll over the space we had picked clear and 
renew our feasting. There appeared to be no 
limit to our blueberry capacity and I believe 
we would still be there picking, but that there 
were a number of miles yet to be traveled be- 
fore darkness should overtake us. 

Thus far we had been traveling with the blaze 
of the afternoon sun upon our backs, and yet 
with all our exertions our heavy wool under- 
garments had caused us no discomfort. The 
stones had been very hard on the feet and very 
uncomfortable while walking upon them, but 
causing no soreness after they were passed; 
but the rest of the Trail through the spruce 
timber furnished greater difficulties, for here 
were numerous windfalls. In the language of 
the town a ''windfall" signifies a sudden ac- 
quisition of something contributing to ease and 
pleasure acquired through no personal effort, 
but brought by the wind as it were. In the 
parlance of the Forest it has, however, no 
meaning of ease or pleasure, yet, even there it 
is brought by the wind, for it signifies that the 

43 



The North Country, 

trees have been blown down across the Trail 
in rows forming an admirable Cheveaux de 
Frise. 

Sometimes they could be circumnavigated 
through the brush, but it often happened that 
it was necessary to duck low, pull your hat 
over the eyes and forehead for protection, 
and plunge resolutely into the tangle, and be- 
come completely trapped with your pack until 
you could neither go forward nor retire. In 
such a situation you must resort to the use of 
the ax at your belt and cut yourself free, only 
to find that you must climb over the fallen 
trees. Now climbing trees with a pack on your 
back is a real accomplishment. At first the 
pack will throw you backwards into the tangle 
to which you address all sorts of polite phrases, 
which do not help except as they relieve the 
mind and get bad thoughts out of your sys- 
tem; but after several attempts you finally go 
slow and have passed over the obstruction only 
to find that you have lost the Trail. But a 
diligent search brings that to light and once 
more you are ready to progress. 

On nearing the end of the portage before the 
Trail descends to the lake, I sat down to wait 

44 




TWABINAISAY. 



The Trail. 

for Chum, who was traveling behind me shod 
with silence. Now Chum is sociable and not 
particularly fond of the silence and solitude of 
the mountain, unless there is some one within 
sight to share her happiness. Some minutes 
before she came into view through the woodS; 
I heard a strange humming sound which ex- 
cited my curiosity, but which I could not truth- 
fully designate as musical, and as I was won- 
dering as to its source Chum slid into view 
over some fallen trees singing quietly to her- 
self. To my inquiry as to the song, she re- 
marked, *4t was only intended for home con- 
sumption to keep myself company and prevent 
me from becoming too lonely on that deserted 
mountain. ' ' 

We then traveled to the edge of the mountain 
and performed a sliding feat down its side; 
the branches met over the Trail and the rocks 
were quite smooth and damp and the descent 
nearly perpendicular, so we inevitably began 
to slide. The eighty pounds on my back con- 
siderably accelerated my speed and I tried to 
recall and put into practice the method used 
by the burros in descending a mountain, but, 
though I endeavored to dig my heels into the 

45 



The North Country. 

rock and to grasp the bushes, it was of no use, 
so I ceased to struggle and abandoned myself 
to the luxury of rapid transit down a mountain 
Trail with the expectation of an ice water 
plunge at the end, but instead I only landed in 
a heap on the large boulders at the foot of the 
chute. 

There lay Kiiskabi— Bubbling Waters— a 
quarter of a mile stretch of beautiful blue- 
green water edged with gray boulders and 
framed in deep green, only a passing vision of 
loveliness, for we quickly made the next quar- 
ter of a mile portage to a nameless lake, and at 
its further end beached our canoes. A moun- 
tain separated us from the next lake, and as we 
were weary we portaged our duffel to the top 
of the mountain, and at five o'clock made our 
camp at the ridge. 

Since six o 'clock in the morning we had been 
traveling and had accomplished six miles on 
a Trail which is traversed by not more than 
ten people within a year— even two of our In- 
dians were traveling it for the first time. Al- 
ways the trail had led upward, at some places 
almost invisible, at others, well nigh impass- 
able, over stones and through windfalls. In 

46 



The Trail. 

making two trips at the portages we had thus 
traveled eighteen miles over the mountains 
with only three miles in the canoes across the 
lakes, and at the end although we were tired, 
yet we were by no means exhausted. Our feet 
were not bruised, nor our backs lame, nor our 
necks painful from the packs, which had hung 
from the **tump lines" on our heads, and our 
weariness was not much greater than if we had 
been on an all day's picinc in the woods, at 
least it required nothing more to relieve it than 
a good supper and a restful pipe, both of which 
were quickly supplied. After supper we even 
had reserve energy to portage our large canoe 
to the lake on the other side of the mountain 
and take a quiet evening paddle on Hawk Lake. 



47 



The North Country. 



CHAPTER V. 

AT HAWK LAKE. 

"Lonely mountain in Northland, misty sweat 
bath 'neath the line." 

Of all the voices with which the Great Mother 
Nature speaks to her children, I believe she 
whispers most impressively through the calm 
Spirit of the Mountains. In the dash of the 
sea she tells of power, of ages of ceaseless 
striving and motion, and her voice is the rest- 
less voice of Ambition. In this phase she is 
so vast and incomprehensible as to make inti- 
macy or even friendliness, except of the most 
distant kind, out of the question. 

But when the Mother calls through the Spirit 
of the Mountains she has an entirely different 
note; you look to her in this form and remem- 
ber that for countless ages she has been wait- 
ing thus in peaceful quiet and repose; but 
while you feel that you can no more be intimate 
with her than with the sea, yet you know that 
her Spirit is always friendly and beneficent, 

48 



At Haivk Lake. 

and her voice whispering in the silence is the 
call to ''Peace." 

Through unnumbered centuries, amid the 
rolls of thunders around her head, and the dash 
of the waters against her rocky base, she has 
remained undisturbed preserving her majestic 
calm and repose, unchanging amid a world of 
vanishing dreams, until, as you gaze at her 
serene face, you too feel the unutterable rest 
and quietude, which she breathes like still dews 
of quietness upon your restless spirit. 

On the evening of our arrival on the moun- 
tain top where we had pitched our camp, three 
of us silently entered the canoe which had been 
brought over the Trail and launched on Hawk 
Lake. The exertions of the day had produced 
a condition of body and mind which longed for 
relaxation and rest, and we had come down to 
the water to breathe deeply of the atmosphere 
of calm repose. No word was spoken as we 
passed out of the little cove leading between 
the hills to the main body of the lake; the pad- 
dles were dipped gently, making no noise as we 
passed through the gateway, and in silent rap- 
ture gazed at the enchanted scene spread be- 
fore us. No words can picture the unsurpassed 

(4) 49 



The North Country. 

loveliness, no painter can preserve the glorious 
vision. 

For two days we had been traveling ever 
upward until seven hundred feet above Lake 
Superior we had come to Hawk Lake, the 
shores of which rose five hundred feet above 
the water, which lay unruffled like a beautiful 
crystal, mirroring the stately pines and hem- 
locks covering the mountains and reflecting the 
graceful white birches fringing the shore. 
Here at half past eight, the sun, which was be- 
yond our range of vision, was still shining upon 
the mountain tops, while below the shadows of 
the forest were already deepening. 

Thus we sat motionless in the canoe and 
watched the long northern twilight creep up 
and wrap the hills in its purple mantle of 
shadows. Here no crickets, tree toads or sing- 
ing insects marred the absolute silence of the 
North Country ; no ax nor habitation had dese- 
crated the virgin Forest; and even the howl of 
a lone wolf across the hills only served to in- 
crease the deep spirit of solitude and quiet as 
its solitary note died away, leaving us en- 
chanted with the ' ' solemn hush of nature newly 
born." 

50 



At Hawk Lake. 

Here breathed the soothing spirit of the 
"Wanderer's Night Song: 

"Over all the hill tops 
Is quiet now, 
In all the tree tops 
Hearest thou 
Hardly a breath; 
The birds are silent in the trees: 
Wait; soon like these 
Thou too Shalt rest." 

Men often bend their heads in reverent 
thought, and earnestly try to worship, yet it 
is not often given us to be conscious of coming 
into the presence of the Great Spirit; not only 
is it an attitude of mind which cannot be af- 
fected at will, but in addition a state of being 
and feeling which comes to us but seldom in 
a lifetime. If I have given the impression that 
this hush of silence was an oppressive gloom, 
full of weirdness and a thing of awe, I must 
tell you that it was a most calm and friendly 
quietude, full of refreshing rest and gentle re- 
pose. Gazing at the vision one seemed to feel 
that the majesty of the mountains and the 
beauty of the Forest and waters were the true 
unrealities, and behind and through these man- 
ifestations was a sublime and deeper reality, so 

51 



The Xoi'fh Country. 

majestic with power, so friendly with benef- 
icence, and 50 qnieting in its gentleness as to 
be the Great Spirit of the Universe breathing 
npon ns a Benedicite of Peace. 

It was not nntil the pnrple shadows had 
deepened into complete darkness that we re- 
gretfnlly turned onr canoe back throngh the 
watery gateway leading to the Trail. Xo word 
was spoken as we climbed npward to the camp, 
and noiselessly we took onr places before the 
blazing friendship fire: and even onr pipes 
were forgotten as we gazed in meditation into 
the leaping flames, nntH onr tired-ont natnres 
called ns to rest. 

Whenever I enter a church or when I pray, 
the mind irresistibly tnms back to the glorious 
experience in the purple twilight of the North 
Country and I know that for once at least, I 
have been permitted to really worship. In my 
dreams I go back again to Hawk Lake and by 
day comes the realization that there something 
was either acquired or lost by which I am differ- 
ent from what I have ever been before, a subtle 
something too deep to analyze and dissect. 

But sometime, agaiu, before my course is 
finished, I shall try to steal out upon Hawk 

52 



At Hawk Lake. 

Lake at eventide, and sit in my canoe to watch 
the sunlight playing npon the mountain tops 
and see it followed in turn by the wonderful 
purple haze of the long twilight. And if, as 
I gaze upon the mountains and believe that they 
are ''God's thoughts piled up." from the Land 
of Silence, the mysterious Spirit of Best and 
Peace shall again come into my soul, I shall be 
happily content. 

But the Great Mother does not utter a sin- 
gle thought to her children, for truly "she 
speaks a various language." In the Spirit of 
the Mountains, she speaks of Rest and Peace, 
but through the Spirit of the Storm, her voice 
is a call of Strength and Power. You must 
know that our camp was pitched on the very 
ridge of the mountain. Across the little lake 
was a parallel ridge four hundred feet higher 
than our own aerie, while across the narrow end 
of Hawk Lake was another paralleling range 
towering far above us. It was near midnight 
when the advance guard of the stonn stole 
upon us from over the mountains, merely a 
strong blast of cold wind searching every cor- 
ner of the tent; far off across the mazes of hills 
was the hea^y roll as of artillery coming into 



The North Country. 

action. Then the reconnoitering wind passed 
on leaving not a breath of air, and the stillness 
broken only by the distant rolls of thunder. 

Gradually the claps of thunder became 
louder and the flashes of lightning more fre- 
quent as the storm came toward us, until the 
tents were almost continually as light as day. 
All at once there was a noise, above the inter- 
mittent rolls of thunder, which resembled the 
rush of many wings ; nearer came the gale with 
great speed until it swooped down upon us in 
all its fury. It was as if the bottom had fallen 
out of the sea and a hurricane was driving the 
water across the face of the earth; the tents 
quivered, strained and tugged at the ropes like 
living things trying to escape from the water 
and wind which struck us squarely on the flank. 

It was exceedingly weird, and as we lay 
wrapped in our blankets, alone on the moun- 
tain, we felt that : 

"Ghosts ride in the tempest tonight, 
Sweet is their voice between the gusts of wind, 
Their songs are of other worlds." 

All night long were we in the firm grasp of 
this mood of nature; for hours the mountains 
w^ere constantly illuminated by the lightning, 

54 



At Hawk Lake. 

showing a scene of inconceivable wildness and 
beauty, and majesty and unbridled power, as 
the Forest bent and bowed and murmured be- 
fore the terrific blasts of the gale. And all the 
while, the deep voice of the thunder rolled back 
and forth above us on each side until it seemed 
as if all the mountains were rolling into the 
waters of the two lakes. 

One could not sleep amid such a scene, in- 
deed we had no desire for sleep while we could 
look upon this mood of Nature, exhibiting the 
wonder and majesty of her power. Strange to 
say our exposed position occasioned us no un- 
easiness or fear, and with all its limitless power 
and wild grandeur, the Spirit of the Storm 
seemed to be friendly. It aroused our awe at 
its majesty, but did not arouse our fears; in- 
deed it seemed to call unto the deep places 
within us, a call for Strength and Power. 
Even Chum, while the lightning was dancing 
about us turning midnight into midday, called 
out, **This is truly glorious." But by day- 
break the wind and thunder had passed leaving 
only a steady downpour of rain. 

Notwithstanding the gallons of water driven 
by the gale that had been dashed upon our 

55 



The North Country, 

tents, they neither leaked nor sprayed, but re- 
mained absolutely dry, while the water from 
their sides ran down the two flanks of the 
mountain. Thus wrapped in our dry warm 
blankets we had truly enjoyed the wildness of 
the storm, but our guides camping on a ledge 
lower down the mountain had fared badly in 
the night, for their tents had leaked in streams 
and the water had rushed in around the bottom 
until it was three inches deep. The duffel bags 
had been placed upon spruce poles laid parallel 
upon the ground and the canoes had been 
turned over them, thus preserving them abso- 
lutely dry. 

After an inspection of the guides' tent, as 
it was still raining, the prospect of any break- 
fast other than bread and butter seemed to me 
very remote. But Antoine said, **Him too wet 
outside, me bring it the breakfast to the tent," 
so the five of us sat on our blankets in the eight 
by ten tent and spread a rubber poncho for a 
table cloth and waited. The pouring rain was 
no obstacle to the rousing fire which the Indians 
made outside the tent and its merry snapping 
gave us very cheerful appetites as we specu- 
lated upon how meager a breakfast would have 

56 



At Haiuk Lake. 

to satisfy us. Within half an hour Biddequaw 
appeared bringing bread and butter, and hot 
baked beans, cooked the day before ; then came 
Antoine with a jar of MacLaren's Imperial 
Cream Cheese, and crackers and a pail of hot 
tea; again Biddequaw came bringing hot crisp 
bacon, and to our wonder, hot French fried 
potatoes. 

How this repast could have been prepared 
in the open in a downpour of rain is beyond 
my explanation; I can only give you the fact 
as it was. Such potatoes, crisp and dry, and 
not swimming in grease as is so often the case 
at the hotels ; such bacon of which the most ac- 
complished cook might well have been proud, 
and you may know its savor claimed our entire 
attention. Often, since then, I have looked dis- 
dainfully at French fried potatoes and bacon 
brought me from the cookery of a hotel, and 
have longed for the breakfast served in the 
rain upon the mountains at Hawk Lake. 

The following morning we broke camp on the 
mountains and started down the lake, the gray 
canoe leading into the bank of mist which lay 
thick upon the water obscuring the shores and 
making navigation somewhat slow. On near- 

57 



The North Country. 

ing the end, however, the wind began to rise 
and dispel the enfolding bank of fog and by the 
time we reached the outlet at the river, the sun 
was shining with undimmed radiance. Here 
we waited for the other canoes still lost in the 
haze; but after a time there appeared two tall 
spectral looking objects gliding over the water, 
and as the trailing gray mantle was lifted the 
forms of the other canoes, with white Indian 
blankets hoisted for sails, came bowling through 
the waves at a rapid pace. 

By tacit understanding we stopped for a few 
minutes at the river leading from the lake for 
a farewell vision ; the scattered mists driven by 
the wind were disappearing over the moun- 
tains, which at last were flooded with golden 
light, and the lake itself bathed in the morn- 
ing sunshine seemed a thing of life as the white 
waves sparkled and leaped out of the clear blue 
depths. With unspoken joy we looked upon 
Hawk Lake for the last time, in her bright and 
gayer mood, until the canoes, noiselessly slip- 
ping around a bend of the river, obscured the 
vision. 



58 



Open Water. 
CHAPTER VI. 

OPEN WATER. 

"Give me of your bark, O Birch Tree! 
Of your yellow bark, Birch Tree! 
Growing by the rushing water. 
I, a light canoe will build me 
Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing." 

From Hawk Lake you travel for one-half 
day down a little river no wider than fifty feet 
before you come to open water of the big lake. 
This river was a continual vista of beauty as it 
bubbled along between the mountains winding 
in sinuous curves, which prevented us seeing 
more than a short distance ahead, but which 
furnished constant surprises. Around a curve 
we would come suddenly upon a flock of young 
duck not yet able to fly, but amply able to out- 
distance any canoe; some of these we secured 
for our larder. Another bend would bring us 
to the torn pieces of lily pads floating on the 
water, where a short time before moose had 
been feeding; while at numerous points were 
to be seen fresh tracks which the guides 
announced were ''Wawashkesh"— red deer. 

69 



The North Country. 

Then two small rapids which were run with 
loaded canoes furnished pleasant excitement, 
at the last of which we stopped for onr midday 
meal. 

We had been traveling rapidly down stream 
the entire morning and had covered a number 
of miles, and shortly after our dinner the hills 
began to stretch away from us and we came upon 
the open water of the Lake of the Great Spirit 
—Manito wick— extending northward fifteen 
miles. Near the mouth of the little river we 
launched our fourth canoe, a birch bark which 
the guides had abandoned on their downward 
trip, because of its leaking condition. On en- 
tering Manitowick one notices a mile to the 
right of the river a gap in the solid walls of 
the hills through which the waters of the lake 
empty into another lake, but we were not to 
travel through the gap until our return, for we 
were bound for the further end. 

If you travel by water route in the North 
Country, your only means will be a canoe, for 
a rowboat is too unwieldy in the rapids, and 
sets too deep in the water in crossing shallows, 
in addition to which it is too wide and heavy 
on the portages; therefore you must always 

60 



Oi^en Water, 

travel by canoe. This is not only the most 
practical but by far the most pleasurable, for 
there is something about the ''swift Chee- 
maun" which gives a free, light and independ- 
ent sensation not to be had with any other 
craft. Indeed the sensation of traveling in a 
light canoe must be akin to that of flying and 
one is almost ready to believe that legend of 
"La Chasse Gallerie," and how the phantom 
Cheemaun comes sweeping through the air on 
the wings of the gale, bearing the ghost of the 
dead voyager, who, for the night of the New 
Year, revisits his home and participates in the 
dance, until the midnight crow of the cock sum- 
mons him back to the shadows of the North. 

But the unlearned will tell you that the very 
lightness and source of delight in a canoe is 
also its chief element of danger, but believe me, 
a canoe properly handled will stand all that a 
rowboat will stand and more, for it is like a 
bicycle in that it responds to your slightest mo- 
tion and hence is very easy to manage and con- 
trol, after you learn ; and, when you have finally 
tipped over or swamped, you will find that it 
still remains your heljD in time of need, as it 
is better than a life preserver, for no matter 

61 



The North Country. 

if it is full of water, it will still float and sup- 
port several persons clinging to it until one can 
reach shore. 

Whether you use a birch canoe or a Peter- 
borough will depend somewhat upon the char- 
acter of the water by which you travel. The 
birch bark will be much lighter to carry over the 
portage, and will also ride higher out of the 
water under a load than a Peterborough, in 
fact the bark canoe requires a slight load to 
steady it down and to prevent it from being 
blown about by the wind. I once made a trip 
across twenty miles of lake in a Peterborough 
when the wind was blowing hard across the 
bow and it was with no difficulty that we kept 
the canoe headed in the right direction. But 
one of my Indians starting ahead in the birch 
bark found considerable difficulty in navigating 
in the right direction for the canoe was so light 
that it rode on the very surface of the water 
and, despite his efforts, the wind blew it away 
out of its course so that while we arrived at 
the Hudson's Bay Post at noon, it was nearly 
four o'clock before the Indian brought his 
canoe to shore, after a hard fight with the wind 
and waves. 

62 



Open Water, 

The Peterborough has a further advantage 
in that you can force it through the water at a 
rate much greater than a bark canoe. One day 
coming down from a Hudson's Bay outpost 
against a head wind whipping up the white- 
caps, Antoine, Neshwabun, Masinaqua and my- 
self in an empty eighteen-foot Peterborough 
made a distance of eighteen miles in three 
hours, but this unusual rapidity was attained 
because Antoine was singing a glorious canoe 
song to keep time with which the paddles 
clinked against the sides of the canoe with such 
rhythmic rapidity that the canoe fairly leaped 
through the spray; to have slowed down the 
stroke would, under the spell of that song, have 
been almost impossible even though we dipped 
water at every stroke. 

In running the rapids, also, the birch bark is 
at a disadvantage for it rips more easily if 
you are unfortunate enough to strike a rock, 
and the repair job is apt to be tedious and un- 
satisfactory, while a Peterborough with a hole 
punched in the bottom is easily mended with 
the aid of a little canvas and the gum of the 
spruce tree. 

63 



The North Country. 

As we rounded into the Manitowick we espied 
two tents on a narrow strip of beach, which, on 
our closer approach, proved to belong to two 
government surveyors, who were trying to 
make a map of the lake. Except at the Hudson's 
Bay Post, these were the only white people, and 
their four Indians, the only Indians we were 
destined to see in three weeks' travel, and 
while they were extremely courteous and of- 
fered us the hospitable shelter of their tent 
during a rain which had set in, yet one will 
find that meeting people in the woods is not a 
pleasure, for, no matter how pleasant those 
same people might be in the city, in the woods 
they constitute a jarring note upon the solitude 
which you have appropriated as your own; I 
have not a doubt but that the feeling was re- 
ciprocal with them. 

After vainly waiting in their tent for an hour 
for the rain to cease, we consulted with An- 
toine about starting up the lake, and as he in- 
formed us that Manitowick was usually rough 
so that a canoe frequently became wind-bound 
for days at a time, we decided that the waves 
beaten flat by the rain furnished an excellent 
opportunity to make the end of the lake, so in 

64 




*' ANGEL CHILD AND DAD 



' ' . -VTT^ ' <r> . T^ ' ' 



O^yen Water. 

spite of the downpour we once more embarked 
our canoes. The Lake of the Great Spirit is 
exceedingly deceptive in size, for it is only two 
and one-half miles wide, and very winding, so 
that it looks like a lake but three miles long; 
yet, when you have accomplished what seemed 
to be the end, you are surprised to see it 
stretching away between the mountains a fur- 
ther distance, which in turn lengthens out into 
another stretch before you reach the real end. 
The mountains, too, are glorious in their great 
height covered with spruce, cedar, pines, bal- 
sam and hemlock; no trees other than ever- 
greens and white birches grow in this section 
of the North Country; we did not see a single 
maple, oak or elm tree, and no timber has ever 
been cut. 

The shores also are bare rocky cliffs rising 
perpendicularly from the water and there are 
only a few places on the shores except at each 
end where it is possible to land a canoe on ac- 
count of the towering cliffs, which are wonderful 
in color, being blue-grays, and soft, warm reds, 
which harmonize so well with the deep green 
of the forest above. About half way up the 
lake we stopped to examine a figure painted on 

(5) 6S 



The North Country. 

the cliff about six feet above the water. It was 
done very crudely in a vermilion red paint and 
beside it was painted a symbol, which looked 
like a perpendicular stick with another stick 
slanting across it which indicated that the In- 
dian who left the message was taking a long 
journey. 

Antoine said that it was reported that the 
record had been painted two hundred years be- 
fore. Biddequaw remembered having seen it 
when he was a boy, and it was in the same state 
of preservation as at present; and his grand- 
father told him that it was there when he was a 
boy; and his grandfather's grandfather had 
in his turn known the name of the Indian Chief 
who had left the message. We were very cu- 
rious to learn what kind of paint it was that for 
so many years had withstood the dash of the 
spray and the beating of the sun on the rock 
and the wash of the rains against it, but the 
Indians themselves of the present day do not 
know of what it was made. Wendell Phillips 
in his address on the ''Lost Arts'' speaks of 
the remarkable permanency of color of the 
paints used by the Egyptians two thousand and 
more years ago; but the Egyptian paints were 

66 



. • Open Water. 

for the most part used on mummy cases and in- 
terior decorations, not exposed to the action 
of the elements and survived in a climate par- 
ticularly favorable to their preservation, while 
this wonderful Indian product was absolutely 
exposed to the sun, rain and storms. 

After leaving the Indian record we made a 
rapid and uneventful passage to the end of the 
lake which narrowed down in the last two miles 
to about one-half mile in width, a watery trail 
between the mountains, and there, where the 
rapids emptied into the lake, we went into 
camp. I cannot leave Manitowick without tell- 
ing you of a thrilling passage on our return. 
We had taken the small Peterborough and the 
bark canoe up to the Hudson's Bay Post on the 
Height of Land, beyond which is a most unin- 
teresting country, full of muskegs and swamps, 
where there are no trout to be had and nothing 
of beauty to be seen :— it is the beginning of the 
Land of Little Sticks. 

Thus our return journey through Manito- 
wick was made in two canoes laden with all 
our provisions and outfit, and nine people and 
a dog. The red canoe carrying the Doctor, 
whom the Indians had named Meskeekeewinini, 

67 



The North Country. 

and ''Bill," who had acquired the title of 
Bewabequoquowinini, and Neshwabun and Ma- 
sinaqua rode well up out of the water, but the 
gray canoe carrying Chum, whose title was 
Oquemaque, and Dad, named Neshequewinini, 
and Antoine, Biddequaw, and myself bearing 
the designation Kegedowinini, besides Wau- 
gosh, the dog, and four hundred pounds of 
duffel, was sunk down into the water until we 
had only three inches of gunwale; this of 
course steadied the canoe wonderfully, though 
it gave us but small chance in a heavy sea. 

We started out in this condition one morn- 
ing about eight o 'clock to make the further end 
of Manitowick and for the first two miles 
through the narrow end of the lake under the 
protection of the mountains all went well ; then 
we rounded a point where we had a full sweep 
of thirteen miles of open water. It was a beau- 
tiful morning, the air was cold and as crisp as 
fresh lettuce, in fact you could almost taste it, 
and the sky was unflecked by a single cloud— 
such a day as makes one wish hard work with 
the paddle to keep warm. Before us the glo- 
rious stretch of deep blue water was whipped 
into leaping foam by a strong head wind blow- 

68 



Open Water. 

ing directly against us, that seemed to ''prom- 
ise things," which were not long in coming to 
pass. 

We hngged the mountain for the first two 
miles and succeeded in escaping with only ship- 
ping water half a dozen times, from the back- 
ward wash of the waves from the cliffs at our 
side; then we came to the ''jumping off place," 
where the mountain no longer furnished even 
a slight protection from the waves, so we 
headed into them and went slow. A deep, 
heavy rolling sea we would have ridden with 
ease, notwithstanding the fact that we were 
down in the water, but the short breaking waves 
coming close together presented continual and 
serious problems. 

The first wave would lift up our bow in the 
most satisfactory manner and slip hissing past 
us, but the bow thus lifted, instead of falling 
back into the trough of the sea, would fall with 
a crash into the break of the second wave, which 
would throw the spray over us and wash into 
the canoe; the third wave would in turn lift us, 
but the fourth would repeat the shower bath 
treatment; thus for three hours did every al- 
ternate wave wash into us as we progressed 

69 



The North Country. 

slowly through the lake. I say ''slowly" for 
it was dangerous to attempt to force the canoe 
through the white water; Biddequaw, in the 
bow, was constantly pushing down on the water 
with his paddle in order to help us over the 
waves, while Antoine and I were paddling slow- 
ly, steadying the canoe and gaining a foot when 
we could, while Dad and Chum with the kettles 
bailed. 

There was nothing else to be done; except at 
one or two places, we could not go ashore, as 
the cliffs were solid walls, and we could not 
well turn back for the reason that to turn in 
such a sea would have been tempting Provi- 
dence, besides we had made up our minds to 
go forward. About half way to the end we 
came to a little cove where we could get a 
breathing spell and there we lighted our pipes 
and went into council to discuss the advisability 
of remaining under the protecting cliffs until 
the wind should die down ; but the Indians said 
we might be wind-bound for two days, and, as 
Dad and Chum undertook the contract of bail- 
ing, we pushed on to the end. It is not necessary 
to say that Chum and Dad saved our lives and, 
strange though as it may seem, the experience 

70 



Open Water, 

was exhilarating and enjoyable to us all, and 
in response to my question as to whether Chum 
was frightened she replied, ''I am rather wet, 
but it's jolly good fun; let's go back;" thus 
even our difficulties became pleasurable in solv- 
ing them, and it was with regret that we passed 
through the Gap in the hills beyond the deep 
waters of the Lake of the Great Spirit. 



71 



The North Country. 
CHAPTEE VII. 

A CEKTAIN PORTAGE. 

"And the rushing of great rivers 
Through their palisades of pine trees." 

There is a large lake whose northern shore 
touches the Height of Land and whose outlet 
at the southern end is by a river dashing 
through a narrow gorge one and a half miles 
long and terminating at Manitowick, where the 
tumbling waters lose themselves in the Lake of 
the Great Spirit. It was at the meeting place 
of the waters of the lake and the rapids just 
above the shelving beach that we had pitched 
our camp, at the edge of the forest close beside 
the rushing stream, to enjoy a few days of rest. 

As one can pole a canoe but a short distance 
up the rapids on account of the immense vol- 
ume of water tumbling down, and the numer- 
ous falls stretching across the gorge in white 
terraces, in order to get to the head of the 
rapids and reach the large lake above, it is nec- 
essary to go by way of the portage a mile and 

72 



A Certain Portage. 

a half long, which is known by the picturesque 
and innocent name of Stoney; all it is neces- 
sary to do is to travel through the forest up the 
mountain and then down on the other side, and 
you have arrived at the head of the rapids, 
after a most unusual experience; I know this 
because I have been over it six times, each time 
with more feeling than the one previous. 

Chum went over it one day and after an hour 
and a half arrived at the upper end in order to 
fish, in the canoe, at the bottom of a ten-foot 
falls, and while I cannot describe the trip, she 
told me seriously that she believed the portage 
had been constructed with great ingenuity by 
the great ''Kitche Manito" himself for the ex- 
press purpose of rewarding the spirits of the 
departed souls who had failed to live rightly on 
earth, by causing them to constantly pass over 
this Trail ; and for the further purpose of pun- 
ishing a few of the living while still in the flesh, 
for their grievous sins. Chum thought I must 
have been very wicked since I was doomed to 
pass over this Trail six times in the flesh, but 
she slyly congratulated me that I had worked 
off so much of my punishment here and now, 

73 



The North Country. 

and expressed the hope that my experience 
would prove a deterring motive against further 
transgression. 

Chum has original ideas to say the least, and 
if her theory as to the wherefore of Stoney is 
correct, I shrink to ponder upon the wicked- 
ness of our guides who were forced to carry 
not only themselves but the canoes over this 
Trail. The forest is beautiful, but on the Trail 
you are so absorbed in ''getting on" that you 
cannot grasp the beauty of the scene; you are 
much in the same plight as the Chinaman un- 
dergoing his punishment by being buried to the 
neck in the sand and unable to reach the food 
placed just beyond his grasp. 

Imagine, if you can, large cubes of stone 
carefully and sharply fashioned by a stone 
cutter, who is going to make a beautiful walk 
over a mountain, but when the time comes to 
lay the stones, instead of placing the cubes flat, 
face upward, he sets them on edge at all con- 
ceivable angles, like the teeth of some gigantic 
saw, and you have Stoney in the abstract. But 
this picture does not quite do justice to the fact, 
for the sides of these stony wedges were cov- 
ered by the softest of most beautiful moss. 

74 



A Certain Portage. 

Now YOU start up the portage from Manito- 
wick feeling fresh and strong and happy after 
your breakfast and glorying in the aromatic 
odors of the forest; you step upon the sharp 
edge of the first cube and decide by a long stride 
to reach the edge of the other stone, and suc- 
ceed, with nothing worse than a pain in your 
feet where the edges have pressed your sole. 
Then you decide that the moss will be softer 
so you try to place your feet on the sloping 
green on the next cube, and you slide into the 
crevices formed by the two wedging rocks. 
After trying this for several strides you con- 
clude that the moss was intended only to look 
at, not to walk upon, and that the **evil stand 
on slippery ground." 

Then you have a bright idea and decide that, 
if you can jump into the wedge formed by the 
converging faces of the rock, you will get on 
with greater comfort; so you put your last 
theory into practice; if the leap is exact your 
feet only double up and jam into the crevice, 
if you have leaped too far you sit down with a 
hea\y jar at the edge of the cube over which 
you have vaulted, and if you fail to leap far 
enough you are thrown forward on your knees 

75 



The North Country. 

and elbows on the slanting face of the rock 
ahead of you. 

By this time yon have lost your cheerful at- 
titude and begin to talk to yourself in strange 
tongues, and finally sit still where you have 
fallen and begin to make an inventory of your 
anatomy and find your back, elbows, knees and 
legs covered with soft and tender spots too nu- 
merous to schedule. Then you abandon all 
theories as useless and desperately devote 
yourself to rolling, tumbling, slipping and slid- 
ing over the rocks in a determination to reach 
the end. As a diversion you find a windfall of 
spruce trees across the Trail ; this you welcome 
on the ground that wood is softer than rock, so 
using your ax you begin to climb across the 
trees until you land once more in a heap upon 
the rocks. But all things, even this portage, 
have an end, ^ven though it seem remote, and at 
last, sore of foot, and bruised in body, and 
wearied in mind you lie down to recover your 
departed cheerfulness— on a rock. I have 
never carried a pack across this portage— and 
I believe I shall never do so ; the Indians do it, 
but then they are hardened sinners. 

76 



A Certain Portage. 

You have come up to the head of the rapids 
to fish the gorge down to camp, and as you have 
made up your mind that at all events you will 
not return by way of the portage, and the 
rapids for a hundred yards seem shallow 
enough to wade, you conclude to get in. Be- 
sides you are struck with the conviction that 
the cold water against your bruises will palliate 
your numerous aches, so you plunge into the 
ice water up to your waist. As Chum and An- 
toine and Neshwabun had by this time nego- 
tiated the portage and were about to pole the 
canoe up to the foot of a falls a mile above and 
fish, I waited to see them pole up, and, as I 
stood in the water. Chum reviled me upon my 
past misdeeds and gave her dissertation upon 
'^Stoney." 

In the North Country, if you wade a stream, 
it is the height of unwisdom to use boots or 
waders, for they are both not only very heavy 
but they are not effective, for when you slip 
your footwear becomes so full of water that 
you can move only with diflSculty. I always go 
in with all my clothes, and while I am not ex- 
actly warm, yet it is my experience that with 
hea\'y woolens, two hours in the ice water is not 

77 



The North Country, 

only not an inconvenience but rather pleasur- 
able, and after I come ashore there is no result- 
ing chill. 

The first stretch of one hundred yards I 
made in about an hour; within this distance I 
broke four leaders, and in trying to dislodge 
the fifth which had been caught, while waist 
deep in the rushing water, my foot wedged be- 
tween two rocks. I forgot to mention that I was 
still traveling upon the rocks, even though they 
were beneath the water. For half an hour I 
tugged and pulled like a bear in a trap vainly 
trying to get free ; in that time I tried to figure 
how the rock could be blasted without blasting 
off my leg, but by careful manipulation and 
balancing on my disengaged limb I was able to 
free myself and carefully picked my way 
ashore, and started down to fish at a more 
promising spot. 

At every other step either the mesh of my 
landing net or the flies on the leader would 
catch on the trees, as I forced my way through 
the forest, but I was having a good time in 
spite of it all, enjoying the wild gorge with the 
successive falls, and forgetting my cares, as 
they were drowned in the roar of the rapids. 

78 



A Certain Portage. 

I would wade out as far as possible and let my 
flies float down almost to the brink of one of 
the countless falls, then draw them slowly 
toward me upon the surface; frequently, when 
the trout would leap, I would be so intent on 
keeping my balance in the torrent as to forget 
to strike quickly with the result that I would 
miss my fish ; this happened time and again. 

Finally, when I did succeed in hooking one, 
he would make a dash with the rapids for the 
falls a few feet distant. Now a rapids run- 
ning twenty miles an hour and plunging over 
falls not only makes a small trout seem like 
a whale, but gives the fish ten chances to one 
in favor of his freedom, and in such a situa- 
tion I was losing about ten fish for every one 
that I landed. You may say "Why didn't he 
play him," or ''He should have gotten 
below him." Perhaps your friendly criticisms 
are founded upon some quiet trout lake ex- 
perience, or some stream fishing where the 
water was shallow, and the banks shelving and 
unobstructed by trees, but with me there was 
no question of plajHing him or getting be- 
low him, for that could not be done without 
carefully picking my way ashore and then 

79 



The North Country. 

spending ten minutes forcing my way through 
the forest. 

My only problem was to prevent my fish in 
his first rushes from gaining the few feet to 
the brink of the falls, for when he had gained 
the falls he was lost as far as I was concerned. 
Sometimes I succeeded in keeping the trout 
from going over, but more often lost them; 
those I checked were usually smaller ones, the 
best fish landed at the portage being only 
one pound, but he gave me more fun than any 
fish I had ever before killed ; this fish was sim- 
ply a mass of springs bounding in every direc- 
tion; in spite of my efforts to check him, twice 
did he get within four inches of the fall and 
then leap gloriously up into sunshine in a mad 
but beautiful attempt to leap over the few re- 
maining inches to freedom, only to fall back 
again into the water on the brink, until after a 
seeming age he was brought to the net. This, I 
confess, was the exception, but the delight in 
taking the few fish that I did succeed in killing 
was all the greater by reason of the number 
that I lost. 

My most frequent experience was to have 
my fish strike and then, before I could check 

80 




o 
<^ 

H 
P3 
O 

H 

U 

H 
< 

a 
o 
o 




A Certain Portage, 

him, make a wild dash over the falls, beyond 
hope of recovery; again it often happened that 
in attempting to keep the trout from gaining 
the brink I had broken leaders and hooks. I 
lost a number of fish in this way, but it could 
not have been otherwise for there was no ques- 
tion or chance of playing your fish, you simply 
had to hold him above the falls as long as your 
tackle would stand the strain of his rushes and 
then hopefully tie new flies or adjust new lead- 
ers. Thus I fished down the series of falls to 
within half a mile of the camp and took eight 
small trout. 

Then I unjointed my rod, and with landing 
net and tackle under my arm began to search 
for some kind of a Trail leading toward camp, 
but, after floundering around in the forest for 
a time, I decided that the only Trail was on the 
other side over the Stoney Portage, but as I 
had plighted my faith not to traverse the por- 
tage again that day, I took my ax from the hol- 
ster at my belt and plunged into the forest to 
make a Trail to camp. This sounds easy but 
it was hardly a picnic experience; with hat 
pulled down over my face I tried football tac- 
tics until I could go no further, then when 

(6) 81 



The North Country. 

fallen trees prevented further progress, I tried 
to go round the obstructions, or over them and 
when, as was frequently the case, I could do 
neither, the point of least apparent resistance 
was selected and the ax brought to bear until I 
could get out of the maze ; then another attempt 
at ''bucking the line'* and further climbing, 
and ax work. 

It is a curious thing to note how closely to- 
gether the spruce and pines grow in the North 
Woods, and how the branches stick out latitu- 
dinally like pointed spears, and how much re- 
sistance they afford en masse. Neither are 
they respectors of your tender anatomy, nor 
your clothes, and frequently I found myself 
pinioned fore and aft until the choice was pre- 
sented, whether I would take more time with 
the ax and make haste slowly, or would at- 
tempt to travel faster and leave most of my 
clothes on the prongs of the trees. 

As it was I made the half mile in one hour 
and finally came into camp in about the same 
condition as a Russian battleship limping into 
port; for my trousers were punctured full of 
holes, and the seat torn in the shape of an ''L'* 
eight inches wide each way; but, as good luck 

82 



A Certain Portage. 

would have it, Chum had come back over the 
portage and arrived in camp before me; so I 
was able to go into dry dock for repairs, while 
she took the stitches necessary to insure my 
further public appearance. You may know 
that those trout served for supper were the 
sweetest that ever delighted the palate of man, 
—none before or since have ever had quite the 
same exquisite flavor. 

It was during our brief sojourn at the por- 
tage that ''Bill" began to attract our notice by 
his unusual qualities of mind and heart. Some- 
where in the depths of my inkwell I have an 
unwritten monograph entitled ''The Odium of 
Personalities," but, when I think of "Bill," 
I am obliged to break all the good resolutions 
I have made as to avoiding that which is per- 
sonal. This is the more easy because this in- 
dividual has the disposition of a saint, and, 
while his modesty causes him to shrink from 
publicity, yet I know that he will pardon this 
transgression. I am not going to describe 
"Bill" except to say that the extreme gravity 
of his six feet of "limped sweetness long 
drawn out" would bring a spirit of cheerful- 
ness to even a funeral party, and, when travel- 

83 



The North Country. 

ing over a rough mountain trail, under a heavy 
pack, one glance at him with his mouth open, 
and tongue hanging out, gravely traveling 
along, has frequently occasioned me so much 
happiness that I have had to sit down until the 
gladsome mood had passed. 

But while I disclaim any intention to por- 
tray this most agreeable comrade of the camp, 
I have no such scruples as to holding up for in- 
spection his extremely picturesque woods' cos- 
tume, for in this guise alone was he to be seen 
at his best. I caught ''Bill" and Dad with my 
camera one day, and the result is a source of 
never ending delight to me; the stained broad 
sombrero, which has sheltered him from the 
dust and sun of the Arizona desert, did noble 
duty in the North Country, and pushed back 
from his head made an ideal frame for his 
grave countenance; the yellow silk Japanese 
bandana with scarlet figures, imported from 
Paris, tied about the collar of his gray flannel 
shirt, with the ends blowing out in front, added 
a charming bit of color easily discernible in 
the distance, while his trousers— ah, who could 
do them half the justice which is their due? 

84 



A Certain Portage. 

They were a vision of loveliness, of closely 
woven Scotch goods with a pattern that looked 
like a beautiful white and green and blue 
checker board; their owner once told me that 
at the end of his bicycle days in the long ago 
he had had them made to order for the ridicu- 
lously cheap price of ten dollars, but that, when 
he came to put them on one dark night, his 
courage had failed him and that until his ap- 
pearance in the woods they had been exhibited 
only at a ''private view." 

Now it so turns out that this comrade is 
deeply religious by nature and, in order that 
he might make a distinction between week days 
and Sundays, he would scorn to button the 
trousers about the knees during the week, but 
would celebrate the Sabbath by carefully ad- 
justing them under the knee cap thus making 
a very natty appearance; the rest of the time 
they were hanging down far below their ap- 
pointed place nearly meeting his shoepacs. Such 
was ''Bill" on a week day at the happening of 
a certain event at the Portage. 

He had landed from below a falls doubles, 
weighing two and three-quarters pounds with- 

85 



The North Country. 

out the aid of a landing net and had prevented 
them from flopping back into the water by 
quietly sitting on them, and he was perfectly 
happy. The canoe with the bow resting on the 
sand and the outer end protruding eighteen feet 
into the lake seemed to furnish a good oppor- 
tunity for him to sit down and take stock of all 
his blessings, so ''Bill," with camera in one 
hand and rod in the other, proceeded to take 
his seat up on the fourteen inches of decking at 
the stern of the canoe, and while waiting for 
the Doctor enjoyed some quiet moments of 
happy reflection. 

Now an unloaded canoe unskillfully handled 
has all the qualities of the rocking horse in the 
nursery, and this he well knew, so when the 
Doctor was about to enter the canoe, "Bill," 
mindful of an unkind remark I had once made 
concerning the Doctor, cautioned him about 
getting in, but the Doctor was blessed with the 
best of intentions, and intent only on getting 
in, so he didn't think it possible that he could 
be cursed with poor execution. This respon- 
siveness of the canoe to the touch is almost 
human, so, when the Doctor placed his foot a 

86 



^A Certain Portage, 

little off the center line the Cheemaun immedi- 
ately responded and ''Billie" sitting upon the 
end decking received the full benefit of the 
cradle motion and was shot over the side into 
Manitowick; his only concern appeared to be 
to save the camera which he waved frantically 
in the air, as if he were flagging the Twentieth 
Century Limited ; thus the camera was dry but 
*'Billie" was soaked and, as the Doctor rushed 
in to the rescue, no word was spoken, but, after 
the victim had climbed ashore still sputtering 
and shaking himself, he addressed the Doctor 
**You blamed, old, clumsy elephant, Harry said 
you would upset the canoe sooner or later," and 
having thus delivered himself of his hard 
thoughts he said no more; for this extreme 
moderation on such a trying occasion he earned 
the fitting title of the ** Angel Child" and he 
lived up to this appellation all through the trip, 
for no matter how wet he became, no matter 
what the provocation, the serenity and even- 
ness of our comrade's disposition remained un- 
disturbed. 

It was also at the portage that Chum acquired 
the difficult art of climbing trees. One day I 

87 



The North Country, 

took this enthusiast of the rod through the 
Forest to work a beautiful stretch of white 
water of a mountain torrent not far distant. 
There was no Trail and the hollows were full 
of fallen trees through which one had to cut 
and climb. Chum made no protest so long as 
we were moving ahead with a seeming goal, 
but on our return from the brook, I became 
tangled in a windfall and lost all sense of di- 
rection. Up to this point Oquemaque had been 
bravely climbing up on the trees and then sit- 
ting down and sliding over them to the ground 
until her anatomy was becoming sore. However 
when she found out I had lost my way she re- 
mained sitting upon a tree where the branches 
catching her skirt held her fast, and refusing 
to move she addressed me concerning my wood- 
craft. My compass solved the question of di- 
rection, however, and having freed Chum from 
the restraining branches we set a new course 
and quickly reached camp. 

Notwithstanding the difficulty of the Trail on 
one side of the rapids and the absence of any 
Trail through opposing forest jungle, the days 
spent at Stoney were among the happiest dur- 



A Certain Portage. 

ing the voyage. It may be that the joys had 
a darker background of difficulties to make 
them seem bright, but certain it is that when 
the time for our departure came all of us were 
very loath to leave our cheerful open camp 
beside the dashing water of the Portage. 



89 



The North Country. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE Hudson's bay company. 

As the roots of the present lie deep in the 
past, and as to-day must be interpreted by yes- 
terday, even in this brief sketch of the most 
potent influence in the North Country, we must 
go back several hundred years and delve in a 
bit of history. 

I once knew of a man of very moderate means 
who showed the most unbridled liberality in 
his will by bequeathing to various friends, 
moneys and lands amounting to several hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars in excess of his 
actual possessions. The same lavish liberality 
seems to have actuated various monarchs of 
the old world in bestowing upon their favorites 
large grants of territory in which the royal 
donors themselves had no proprietary right, or 
at least no right which they could legally alien- 
ate. This royal munificence was particularly 
marked in the person of Charles II of Eng- 
land, but in every instance his generosity was 
extended to the members of his own family, 

90 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

excepting only the provincial grant made to 
William Penn, in consideration of the dis- 
charge of a crown debt due to the latter 's 
father. 

One of the most notable of this Monarch's 
benefactions was the grant made by Charter 
under date of May 2, 1670, to his beloved 
cousin, Prince Rupert, the Duke of Albemarle, 
Earl of Craven, Lord Arlington, Lord Ashley 
and others numbering less than twenty, under 
the title of ''The Governor and Company of 
Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's 
Bay," of the territory known as ''Prince Ru- 
pert's Land," which was henceforth to be the 
property of the Hudson's Bay Company. 

This interesting grant of an empire is ex- 
pressed in the terms of the Charter as being 
made by "Especial grace, certain knowledge 
and mere motion" of the sovereign, without 
the advice, consent or ratification by either 
Council or Parliament. Nor was it a mere 
grant of a trading right, but assured to the 
Company headed by the Princely relation of 
Charles "the sole trade and commerce of all 
those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks, 
and sounds within the entrance of Hudson's 

91 



The North Country. 

Straits, with all the lands, countries, and terri- 
tories, upon the coasts and confines" of the 
above seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks 
and sounds. 

The vagueness and generality of the grant 
were no doubt attributed to the fact that the 
King had no knowledge of the extent of the ter- 
ritory the subject of his gift, and desired only 
that the royal favor be expressed in terms suf- 
ficiently large and elastic to cover the actual 
conditions, whatever they might be. Certain it 
is that at that time neither the imperial donor, 
nor the royal geographers, nor any one else 
in England had the slightest conception of the 
domain thus bestowed; a few Canadian half- 
breed voyagers may have had a very faint idea 
of its wide extent, but even they could not know 
its entirety. Thus was a territory, including 
its people, extending from the Bay north to the 
Arctic regions, and easterly on the coast two 
hundred miles, on the south towards Canada 
three hundred miles, and on the west fifteen 
hundred miles to the Rocky Mountains, granted 
absolutely to Prince Rupert and his associates, 
a territory four and one-half millions of square 

92 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

miles, or one-third greater than the whole of 
Europe, and larger than the United States. 

No consideration appears to have ever been 
given the royal grantor for this territory, but 
the Charter states as a motive for the grant that 
the corporators ''have at their own great cost 
and charges undertaken an expedition for Hud- 
son's Bay, for the discovery of a new passage 
into the South Sea and for the finding of some 
trade for furs, minerals and other considerable 
commodities, and by such, their undertaking 
have already made such discoveries as do en- 
courage them to proceed further in pursuance 
of their said design, by means whereof there 
may probably arise very great advantage to 
us and our kingdom. ' ' The only compensation 
nominated in the Charter was a royalty to the 
King to be paid annually of "two elks and two 
black beavers." In 1848 the Company asked 
of Parliament, and secured the right to trade 
in the Indian Territory which included the en- 
tire North West Territory from the Eocky 
Mountains to the Pacific; this grant however, 
was a mere right to trade and not a grant to 
the land itself as had been made to Prince 
Eupert. 

93 



The North Country. 

The managing body of this corporation 
chosen annually by the stockliolders consisted 
of seven directors, who in turn chose the Gov- 
ernor and Deputy Governor, and Prince Ku- 
pert became the first Governor, and three of the 
Directors together with the Governor consti- 
tuted a quorum for the management of the en- 
terprise and the control of ships, voyages, etc. 
Within their territory they were empowered to 
make laws, impose penalties and punishments 
and not even an English subject could visit, 
trade or frequent in the territory without leave 
in writing under the Company's seal. In 1857 
the population over which the Company held 
sway was about forty-three thousand, consist- 
ing mostly of Ojibways, Crees, Sioux, Assini- 
boines and half-breeds. 

But with the unlimited power accompanying 
an almost unlimited grant, the task which the 
Company had undertaken was enormous; not 
only were the physical obstacles of climate 
and trackless forest colossal, but controversies 
with the French claiming paramount rights 
under prior grant from Louis XIII, and as- 
saults upon the validity of the grant made in 
England, increased the difficulties besetting the 

94 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

Company during its early history. In August, 
1782, the French assertions of their claims un- 
der Admiral La Perouse became so serious that 
Fort York and Fort Churchill on the Bay were 
surrendered by the Company and with large 
amounts of furs were both burned. But while 
the controversies with the French were discon- 
tinued, the assaults at home continued to in- 
crease until they finally took the form of a Par- 
liamentary investigation, which however, failed 
in the accomplishment of large results. 

Up to 1821 there had been no central local 
management of the posts and forts of the 
Company, but each was ruled by petty officers, 
and as a consequence subject to many abuses; 
but in 1821 the first resident Governor, Sir 
George Simpson, assumed supreme control of 
the various establishments of the Company, 
and to his prudent management and wise over- 
sight is due the marvelous success and harmo- 
nious control which has since obtained in the 
conduct of the Company's affairs. He was as- 
sisted by a Council composed of all the Chief 
Factors and Chief Traders, who met annually 
and held sessions for about three days to dis- 
cuss conditions and needs of various posts and 

95 



The North Country. 

make rules and regulations for their manage- 
ment. The power of the Governor is supreme 
except during the sessions of the Council, and 
even then it does not appear that his decision 
has ever been overruled. At the present time 
the resident Commissioner lives at Winnipeg 
and in all matter pertaining to the management 
of the forts and posts his authority is absolute. 
Some idea of the marvelous success of the 
corporation may be obtained by considering 
that while the original stock was only fifty 
thousand, eight hundred and twenty dollars, 
yet in fifty years notwithstanding the enormous 
expense of establishing trading posts and forts 
throughout the wilderness the stock had tripled 
twice by profits alone and was shortly increased 
to four hundred and fifty-seven thousand, 
three hundred and eighty dollars without a 
dollar being paid in, and had in the meantime 
l^aid ten per cent, dividends annually to the 
stockholders. In 1821 the company absorbed 
the rival North West Company of Montreal on 
a basis equal to its own and of the consolidated 
stock amounting to one million, nine hundred 
and sixteen thousand dollars, one million, seven 
hundred and eighty thousand, eight hundred 

96 




WINTER TEPEE OF OJIBWAYS. 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

and sixty-six dollars was from profits. In 
1836 one of the company's ships left Fort 
George for London carrying furs valued at 
more than three hundred and eight thousand 
dollars, while the total amount of fur taken out 
by the company far exceeds one hundred and 
thirty millions of dollars. 

At the present time the French Company of 
Montreal is a powerful rival of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, but by reason of the friendly 
relations which the latter company has main- 
tained with the Indians for so many years, and 
the confidence which the forest dwellers have 
in the Company, it still retains most of the In- 
dian patronage, in spite of the rival Company 
and numerous petty independent traders. 

Time moves with exceeding slowness at the 
trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
and there you will find the life and conditions 
of to-day about the same as they were two hun- 
dred years ago. The requisitions for goods 
and merchandise for the various posts through- 
out the North Country, excepting some few of 
the posts nearer to civilization, contain precise- 
ly the same articles as the requisitions of a 
century ago; the trade guns vary only in that 

(7) 97 



The North Country. 

caps are used instead of the flint lock; the 
knives, blankets, capotes, powder, ball, and 
traps are the same as in the long ago. 

In the North Country the larger posts are 
usually built in the form of a quadrangle with 
the Chief Trader's house in the center and the 
houses of the Company's gentlemen at the side. 
Around the quadrangle will be the large trad- 
ing store which is the center of life at the post, 
the mess quarters of the Company's gentle- 
men, the fur room, the warehouses, the car- 
penter shop and blacksmith shop. In appear- 
ance the trade room bears a close resemblance 
to the general store of the country towns ex- 
cept that it is much larger and more simple. 
Wide counters run around the four sides of the 
room and beneath the counters are drawers, 
and back of the drawers against the wall are 
bins, above which are wide shelves reaching al- 
most to the heavy roughhewn beams of the 
ceiling. 

The most noticeable feature of the trading 
room is the immense stove in the center. I 
have seen large stoves before, but the vision of 
one I saw last summer caused me to open my 
eyes and take a good look; it was a stove that 

98 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

was a stove, ten feet long and three in height 
and three in width ; it looked like a black coffin 
for some pre-historic giant, but the Trader 
told me that when the thermometer was sixty- 
five degrees below zero, that stove simply 
glowed with warmth and communicated its 
good cheer to the whole room. 

The main trading room is not particularly 
interesting; to be sure the shelves, piled with 
bales of cloth, capotes, blankets, knives, files, 
canoe awls, fish hooks, needles, scissors and 
such articles of every day use, suggest the sim- 
ple needs of the Company's customers. But 
there are other rooms which appeal more to 
your imagination. Several doors lead out of 
the trading room into other rooms, which how- 
ever, are forbidden territory to the customer, 
who, if he desires any merchandise in other 
rooms can make his wish known to a salesman, 
who will himself procure the desired article. 
The trader, however, was very friendly and 
gracious to me and conducted me through the 
whole place. 

The first room resembled a jail and was 
filled with ominous looking kegs of powder and 
a ladder led from the floor up to a dark hole 

L Of 99 



The North Country. 

in the ceiling overhead. With lantern in hand 
we mounted up to this room where the real 
Hudson's Bay Company was to be found; the 
other rooms had been commonplace, this one 
was delightfully distinctive. On first poking 
my head through the opening there was the most 
delightful spicy odor, mingled with the smell 
of wood smoke. On arriving in the room the 
darkness was so intense that at first even with 
the lantern I could make out nothing in the 
gloom,— but as the eyes became accustomed to 
the twilight, I discerned long vistas of hanging 
articles depending from the rafters in the hazy 
gloom. 

First in our round of inspection we came 
upon the brass bound short muzzle loading 
trade gun, for which you have supreme con- 
tempt; then you come to long rows of spectral 
looking articles which prove to be snow shoes 
of all sizes and shapes from two feet to five 
and one-half feet in length; it does your soul 
good to finger the fine meshes of moose sinew 
with which the shoe is woven and you are quite 
loath to depart for the inspection of the next 
rafter. Here were the oil tanned shoepacs and 
moccasins of all weights and sizes, from the 

100 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

velvety woman's moccasin of doeskin, embroid- 
ered with silk in the beautiful colors of the 
Ojibway flower pattern and trimmed with otter, 
to the hea\^^ elk skin moccasin; these were the 
source of the wood smoke odors, for they had 
])een made in the winter wigwams, close about 
the fire with the smoke circling in eddies about 
the tepee and rising to the opening at the top. 

As I shut my eyes and poked my nose into 
the long lines of moccasins the whole winter 
life of the Ojibways came into view; the hunt 
in the snows, the silent figures shod in snow 
shoes noiselessly following the tracks of a herd 
of caribou to find them eating the white moss ; 
then the skill and maneuvering by which the 
animals are brought within range of the short 
trade gun. You see one of the hunters disap- 
pear in the Forest where he spends nearly an 
hour in making a detour ; he finally comes into 
view on the opposite side of the circle of which 
the caribou form the center ; then he begins to 
come slowly forward while the other Indian 
remains behind a tree perfectly still ; for a time 
he has progressed toward the feeding game, 
when suddenly the wind has brought to the car- 
ibou the scent of the approaching hunter, and 

101 



The North Country. 

they raise their heads and silently note his 
progress, and not until he has approached a 
considerable distance do they trot off at a 
gentle gait in the opposite direction toward the 
waiting hunter, who will not risk a long shot, 
but who usually kills his game at less than fifty 
feet. 

Now you do not see the game carried to the 
camp, but the squaw with kettles and the dogs 
with sledges bring the wigwam to the game. 
Then the hide is carefully removed and 
tanned by the squaw, the sinews are prepared 
and kept for the snow shoes, and the meat is 
allowed to freeze, thus preserving it for use, 
and the tanned hide made into moccasins. 
Wliat wonder that they smell of the smoke of 
the tepees, and it is a very pleasant smell, I 
can assure you; I have two pairs in my bed 
room, and one I use on my feet and the other I 
apply to my nose, for I like the smell and I am 
wafted back on the aroma of the moccasins to 
the wonderful Land of Silence. 

After passing the row of long narrow dog 
sledges you have come to the end of the most 
interesting of the Hudson's Bay Post. As you 
are shown through the accounting room where 

102 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

the books and records are kept, you find it diffi- 
cult to work up a lively interest, your thoughts 
are still wandering among the hanging spectres 
of the attic and you have no interest for dull 
impersonal figures. But beyond you come to 
a little den which is the Trader's sanctum. 
Here also dwells the real spirit of Hudson's 
Bay and for hours last summer I sat into the 
night in the Trader's den and drank in his ex- 
periences in the North Woods. Then we 
examined the books, yellow with age, which the 
Traders for years before him had kept as jour- 
nals of the daily happenings, and which he has 
continued. 

It was with deep interest that I examined 
the diary and noted that the sometimes once or 
twice a year strangers had passed that way; 
there was written their names, their destina- 
tion, whence they had come and other remarks 
more or less personal. After an evening spent 
in this delightful manner as the time between 
day break was becoming short, we talked of the 
early days of the Company and of various 
legends such as **La Longue Traverse" and 
others. The Trader frankly confessed that in 
the early days, when the Company was gov- 

103 



The North Country, 

erned without any central authority and re- 
sponsibility sat lightly upon the shoulders of 
the Traders, there may have been isolated in- 
stances of the abuse of power or a sort of lynch 
law punishment for offenses which gave rise 
to the legend of ''La Longue Traverse/' but 
that within the last hundred years the legend 
has had about as much foundation in fact as 
that of the phantom "Chasse Gallerie" of the 
voyagers to whose love of raconteur is due the 
Traverse legend. 

I have inquired of a number of Ojibways of 
the North as well as the Crees from Brunswick 
and Moose Factory, but most of them hear the 
legend from you for the first time, or, if they 
have heard it before, they will tell you that it 
came directly or remotely from some white 
man. Ask if they believe it, and they will tell 
you that their experience furnishes no ground 
for credence and that their fathers never spoke 
of it about the camp fires. 

Summer life at a post of the Company is full 
of interest and activity, as the Indians have 
come in from the Forest to trade and secure 
new supplies and to rest before returning to 
the winter hunting grounds, and their summer 

104 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

camps of white canvas tents are scattered in 
delightful disorder. At a post on the Height 
of Land last August were a number of Crees 
and Ojibways, but there was little fraternizing 
between them, and each nation had its camp on 
opposite sides of the Company's trading 
rooms. 

A remarkable feature of the Northern Indian 
camps is the number of dogs each family owns, 
varying from five to fifteen, most of which are 
''huskies;" these animals which are a second 
cousin to the dog and first cousin to the wolf, 
have very thick, long fur, and their weight 
and size make them ideal sledge dogs for which 
they are almost exclusively employed by their 
red masters. They are extremely hostile to 
strangers, however, and in making the round of 
a camp one must be unusually careful in avoid- 
ing these half wild, vicious animals, if he would 
preserve his precious anatomy intact. 

In visiting a camp I had carefully circum- 
vented a howling pack of these "huskies" and 
was about to open the flap of the tent to present 
the squaw with some cakes of chocolate, when 
a large wolf -like "huskie" tied around the cor- 
ner made a vicious lunge at me, but, as good 

105 



The North Country. 

luck would have it, I was just six inches beyond 
his snapping jaws; the squaw, mindful of the 
courtesy due strangers, issued from the tent and 
proceeded to administer a lesson in hospitality 
to the ill-mannered dog, emphasizing her pre- 
cept with frequent blows of the club. 

The life of these summer camps represents 
the very germ of simplicity. I conversed with 
a kind-faced old squaw who, surrounded by 
three children, was industriously engaged in 
weaving a net just outside her six by eight dog 
tent; she informed me that besides herself and 
three children, her husband and a grown son 
made that their summer home. As my stock 
of Ojibway was scanty, I could not inquire how 
they were all disposed at night, and as there 
were no hooks or racks upon which the children 
could be hung up, I have been unable to con- 
ceive how the thing was accomplished; to be 
sure their visible possessions consisted of only 
a small bag of flour, some bacon, a frying pan, 
two blankets, and a trade gun, but even with 
such scanty furnishings it did not seem possi- 
ble that six people could find shelter in such a 
limited space. 

106 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

Their winter quarters, however, are more 
commodious, for they erect a wigwam in the 
shape of a cone, at least ten feet in diameter, 
made of two layers of birch bark and some- 
times an inner covering of canvas, with a space 
between; the strips of the bark overlap each 
other like shingles and extend to the ground, 
while the opening has a skin hung over the out- 
side and another within, thus making it practi- 
cally wind proof. In the middle of the circle 
they build their fires, the smoke of which is- 
sues from the small opening at the top of the 
cone; here they spend the seven long winter 
months, for in January and February the cold 
is so intense that even the Indians do not ven- 
ture beyond their nearby traps for the purpose 
of hunting, for during these months the tem- 
perature of sixty-five degrees below zero is al- 
most constant. At this time the moccasins are 
made by the squaws, while the men weave the 
moose hide meshes of the snow shoes which 
they use in the hunt as soon as the temperature 
moderates sufficiently to permit them to take 
to the Forest without the certainty of freezing 
to death. 

107 



The Xorfli Country. 
CHAPTEE IX. 

THE HTT>50X*5 BAY COMPANY— COXTIXrED. 

One notices the fact that, while the Hudson's 
Bay Company in the composition of its stock- 
holders is almost exclusively English, and most 
of its stock IS held by a comparatively few fam- 
ilies, yet the ** wintering partners" in the fur 
trade, that is to say the Factors and Chief 
Traders, with their clerks and salesmen, are 
nearly all natives of Scotland or the Orkneys. 
This fact is doubtless due to the proverbial 
shrewdness of the people of those countries, 
together with their inborn propensities for bar- 
ter and love of adventure ; their vigorous phys- 
ical equipment no doubt was also a determin- 
ing factor in their selection, to which they add 
a persistent economy and above all a certain 
rigid Presbyterian honesty engendered under 
the protecting wing of the Kirk. 

When a Scotch laddie sixteen or eighteen 
years of age seeks employment with the Com- 
pany, he is required to pass a rigid mental and 
physical examination and to convince the exam- 

108 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

ining representative of the soundness of his 
moral fibre. If he passes the examination, he 
is notified to hold himself in readiness to sail 
at a certain date for some post on the Bay, but 
before entering the service he must sign a 
formal enlistment for the term of five years; 
at the time he does not know it, but that five 
years' enlistment "with very few exceptions 
means a whole lifetime. 

Upon his arrival at York Factory he is gen- 
erally sent to pass the first five years of his 
apprenticeship in the extreme northern dis- 
tricts of the Mackenzie River and Athabaska, 
that he may be entirely severed from all di- 
versions of the outer world and may learn with- 
out distraction the practical working of the 
Indian trade. During this period he is paid 
the sum of twenty pounds with rations and 
quarters furnished free of cost, and with the 
privilege of purchasing clothing from the Com- 
pany's store at cost and ten per cent. As 
clothing is the only expense he can possibly in- 
cur, the bulk of his compensation remains in 
the hands of his employers drawing compound 
interest. For the first few years he is sales- 
man at the Company's trade rooms, but makes 

109 



The North Country. 

occasional trips to the Indian camps on trading 
expeditions with the Chief Trader. 

His next advance is to the accountant's office 
of the post where he receives the official desig- 
nation of ^' clerk," and at this position he re- 
mains until at least fourteen years of service 
have elapsed, after which he is placed in one 
of the depots or district's headquarters as 
Chief Clerk. By this time his salary has been 
increased to one hundred pounds yearly, and 
his ambition points only in the direction of fur- 
ther preferment in the same service. 

During these fourteen or fifteen years he has 
been constantly absorbing the talk of the 
** Company's gentlemen" in the mess room; his 
daily routine has given him a fixed habit of 
thought and life, and his journeys with the Chief 
Trader have all taken his mind from the world 
beyond the Forest. Sometimes he feels the 
impulse to get back again into the world of 
men and things, but he is predestined to find it 
common place and bizarre, and his only happi- 
ness as well as his only sphere of usefulness 
lies far back in the Forest in the world of 
nature. 

110 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

I know something of the feeling which im- 
pels these men; years ago I used to sit around 
the conventional summer resorts living in one 
room, dressing twice a day and actually imag- 
ining I was having a good time, but all that is 
past and gone forever, and for a number of 
years I have been summering in the North 
"Woods, until now I can no more help going 
back than can the magnetic needle keep from 
pointing to the North. Thus it is in greater 
degree that the compelling influence of the 
North Country calls her sons back from the 
rattle of the cities to the murmurs of the rapids 
and rivers. 

From Chief Clerk the next advancement is 
to the position of Chief Trader or Factor and 
admission into the partnership of the fur trade. 
"When the office of Factor or Chief Trader at 
any of the numerous posts becomes vacant, the 
Council of Factors and Chief Traders, at their 
annual session select from among the clerks of 
fourteen years' service with the Company one 
to fill the vacant office; with this promotion he 
also receives a certain number of shares of 
stock which the London stockholders have set 

111 



The North Country. 

aside for that purpose, and henceforth his 
profits are the results of the fluctuating trade. 

I have a theory that the success of an insti- 
tution is measured not only by its monetary 
dividends, but also by its effect upon the people 
with whom it is brought into contact. When 
one looks back upon the East India Company 
and other large trading companies of history, 
and takes note of the baneful effects of their 
influence upon the natives of the territories 
wherein they have operated, it is a real delight 
to reflect upon the manner in which the great 
Hudson's Bay Company, while reaping rich re- 
wards for itself, has at the same time benefited 
and uplifted the Indian inhabitants. 

One of the most distinctive features of this 
Company is its cultivation of and insistence 
upon the Spartan virtue of truth upon the part 
of its employes in dealing with the Indians, for 
no misrepresentation is permitted in order to 
effect sales in that service, and any infraction 
of the rule is promptly met with summary dis- 
missal. Neither are prospective customers 
urged to buy, as no inducements whatever are 
held out in the guise of bargains and no goods 
are shown to the customer except such as he 

112 



The Hudson^ s Bay Company. 

requests. This insures a wholesome self re- 
spect both upon the part of the red purchaser 
and the white seller. 

Nor is the ear of the company deaf to the 
complaints of the Indians. I know a recent 
case where the trader of one of the Interior 
Posts had secured a number of Ojibway In- 
dians for a large surveying party, to carry 
their supplies, man their canoes and make their 
camps and, as usual in such cases, the survey- 
ing party paid the stipulated wages to the Com- 
pany's Post Trader for distribution by him 
among the various Indians. It turned out, how- 
ever, that the Trader, instead of paying the 
Ojibways their entire wages, kept part from 
each amounting from ten to fifteen dollars in 
every case. The Indians highly incensed and 
unaccustomed to such thievery, complained to 
the Commissioner who caused an investigation 
to be made. Now it so turned out that the In- 
dians gave no receipt for the moneys they had 
been paid, and the Trader's books showed en- 
tries of full payment to the Indians, yet, upon 
the testimony of the Indian complainants that 
they had not been paid in full, the Trader was 
promptly dismissed from the service. 

(8) 113 



The North Country. 

The somewhat whimsical motto of the Com- 
pany "Pro pelle cutem"—**a skin for a skin" 
—is characteristic to the fairness which has 
marked its trade with the Indians. Not only have 
the Indians been paid a fair price for the furs, 
which they sell, but the numerous posts scattered 
over the North Country have furnished them 
with a market close at hand without the neces- 
sity of traveling hundreds of miles, and at the 
same time have brought to the Indian comforts 
which have increased his efficiency without 
weakening his spirit. 

First, the Company has brought him sani- 
tary woolen garments for which he has aban- 
doned the picturesque but unhealthful skin 
garments, except as he uses them in winter for 
exterior covering; next, it has brought him 
flour, sugar, blankets and cloth ; it has increased 
his efficiency by the importation of guns, and 
steel traps,— and by these and numerous other 
agencies has it made his forest life more endur- 
able and upon a higher plane without destroy- 
ing his simplicity. And all the while it has not 
sold him whisky; at a Hudson's Bay Post the 
Indian can no more secure whisky than he can 
harness the moon to his sledge. It is simply 

114 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

not to be had— neither is there a side door re- 
laxation. 

In making mention of another respect in 
which the Company serves the Indian, I wish 
to disclaim any intent to hold up before you 
Hudson's Bay Company as a charitable institu- 
tion; it is distinctly an institution for profit, 
yet it is refreshing to be able to chronicle the 
fact, that, while making the legitimate profit, 
it is not grinding the soul out of the forest 
dwellers, but is rather lifting them up much 
higher than where it found them. I refer to 
the elaborate system of credits extended by the 
Company. 

Do not be suprised, gentle dweller of the 
cities, when I tell you that this money making 
corporation thoroughly believes, and its long 
experience fully demonstrates, that the Indian 
of the North Woods is not only industrious but 
honest as well. Upon this theory an Indian 
comes into a trading post in August or Sep- 
tember without a cent; he has no furs to sell; 
but he has many needs to supply; he requires 
flour, tea, sugar, bacon, a new gun, powder and 
ball, traps and a hundred other things to main- 
tain him eight months during the winter; all 

115 



The North Country. 

these things he must have, yet he has no money 
wherewith to make even a part payment. But 
he has honesty, and industry, and skill, and for 
the Company's Trader this is sufficient. 

He is cheerfully furnished with all he desires 
and the Company extends him credit on its 
books for supplies aggregating from two hun- 
dred to five hundred dollars and the Indian, 
with loaded canoe departs into the Forest to 
his hunting grounds three hundred or five hun- 
dred miles distant ; the Trader who has parted 
with the Company's property loses no sleep on 
account of the numerous copper colored debt- 
ors whose names appear on his account books, 
for he knows that, when June has thawed out 
the ice of the lakes and streams, the canoes will 
return bearing their valuable furs, and he will 
be kept busy in balancing accounts with his 
former debtors who have returned to discharge 
their debts, and to receive credit for the addi- 
tional furs they have brought to the Trader. 

Last summer in response to a query I 
addressed to a Post Trader as to the frequency 
of bad accounts, he informed me that in all his 
experience at numerous posts he had never had 

116 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

a bad account; that it sometimes happened the 
Indian by reason of poor luck in his hunting 
season was unable to make full payment, but 
that in such cases the payment was merely 
postponed until he had a more successful hunt ; 
that the only event which prevented the Indian 
from paying was his death before he returned 
to the post, in which event the Company, in- 
stead of saddling the debt upon the deceased's 
family, promptly cancels it. No comment is 
necessary upon this system which reflects so 
much credit upon both the parties to the trade. 
In the early days of the Company there was 
a tendency upon the part of the Indians, en- 
couraged by the Company, to depopulate the 
game, but a wiser policy soon obtained. Each 
Indian has his own territory wherein he hunts, 
and no other Indian trespasses upon his hunt- 
ing grounds ; in this territory he is supreme, he 
knows how many beaver there are in each dam, 
he knows how many he can trap without de- 
creasing the supply for the following year, and 
his care in this respect is greater than that of 
the most prudent farmer who is anxious not 
to rob the soil of its fertility. No more car- 

117 



The North Country. 

ibou, moose, otter or other animals are taken 
by him, than will be replaced by increased num- 
bers the following year. 

Under this farsighted system encouraged by 
the Company, the Indians' hunting ground is 
apt to remain fertile for years to come. Nor 
does this system decrease the amount of busi- 
ness transacted by the Company, for after op- 
erating in the territory more than two hundred 
years, its business last year was greater than 
during any previous year of its long history. 

Until recently the system of trading was en- 
tirely barter, literally a ''skin for a skin" but 
of recent years the all powerful dollar has be- 
come the medium of exchange in the posts 
nearer to civilization, but at the remote posts 
of the far north the beaver pelt still remains 
the standard of value, every service rendered 
or purchase made being reckoned with the 
beaver as the unit of compensation. 

Various learned writers have given us 
sketches of the Great Fur Company, which are 
doubtless of great historical exactness and 
value, but some of them have interpolated into 
their writings personal views in such a strain 
of harsh criticism as to give the impression that 

118 



The Hudson's Bay Company. 

their critical observations were not predicated 
upon a close contact with the conditions as 
they exist in the North Country. Having the 
firm belief that the best critics of the Company 
are those whose life has brought them con- 
stantly in touch with its methods, I have en- 
deavored to secure the opinions of the Indians 
constantly trading with the Company and I 
have found without exception that to the In- 
dian mind the corporation founded by Prince 
Rupert has always stood for honesty and fair 
dealing. Were this otherwise it must surely 
have failed long years ago by reason of the 
distrust and open hostility of the copper col- 
ored inhabitants upon whom it is dependent 
for trade and who in turn depend upon it for 
those things which are necessary to the life of 
the Forest. 

In 1867, the Company, under pressure of the 
home Government, and in response to the de- 
mands of the Dominion Government, that the 
lands granted to the Comjiany by Charles II 
in 1670, should become part of the Dominion 
of Canada, in consideration of the payment to 
it of one million, five hundred thousand dollars 
for the franchise, surrendered to the Dominion 

119 



The North Country. 

Government all its lands, privileges and rights 
granted by original Charter, but reserved its 
right to carry on trade. In addition it was al- 
lowed to retain in fee all its posts and stations 
throughout the territory with the added reser- 
vation of a block of land at each of them, to- 
gether with a section of one-twentieth of the 
land of each township in the so-called ** fertile 
belt." Thus by this long sighted policy, if, in 
the remote future, the day shall ever come 
when the company shall cease to be profitable 
as a fur trading corporation, it will still remain 
equally great as a large land holding and agri- 
cultural trading Company. 



120 



Antoine, 



CHAPTER X. 

ANTOINE. 

"Who shall meet them at those altars, who shall light them 
to that shrine? 
Velvet-footed, who shall guide them to their goal?" 

The Great Spirit in creating men has given 
to some of its sons hearts so large and strong 
that it became necessary to also give them very- 
big bodies wherein the enlarged souls might 
dwell in comfort. Of one of these exceptions 
was my chief guide, Antoine. I have desig- 
nated him as ''chief guide," yet that is a mis- 
leading term not fitly describing his position, 
and he is better termed **the leader," for when 
one speaks of a ''guide," you think at once of 
the professional guide, whose hire is fashion- 
ably large, but whose woodcraft is deplorably 
small, and whose theory of life seems to be how 
little labor he can make serve to earn his daily 
wage ; such a man Antoine was not. 

In the first place, the number of people who 
visit the regions where he dwells is so small as 
not to create a demand for a professional 

121 



The North Country. 

guide, and secondly, the forest life of the hunter 
would allow him but little opportunity, except 
for a short period during the summer, to lead 
parties over the Trails of the Forest, and 
through the lakes and rivers that leave no 
Trail. 

At a certain Hudson's Bay Post on the 
Height of Land is a very snug whitewashed log 
cabin; here is Antoine's home, at least it is 
where he is supposed to live, but he confessed 
to me that he spent no more than four weeks 
during the whole year within this cozy shelter, 
the rest of the time being given to the life of the 
Forest in pursuit of game, excepting the two 
short months of summer, during which he is 
engaged in managing the transportation of 
supplies to some surveying party, or to some 
one of the Company's posts, or occasionally 
leading some canoeing expedition through the 
wilderness. Fortunate indeed is the man 
who can secure Antoine as a leader for his 
party, for he is the very prince of woodsmen. 
With him there need be no worry because the 
provisions are running low and days of hunger 
seem near, for he will provide the empty larder 
with game in plenty, and in running a rapids 

122 



Antoine. 

with him you are quite as safe as if you were 
aboard a canal boat, and much happier. 

His father being a French Canadian, and his 
mother of Ojibway, he has inherited a Wood's 
spirit of the first order and, having been born 
at a large Hudson's Bay Post, and spending 
his whole life in the Forest, his environment 
has only increased his love for and understand- 
ing of the Wilderness. His early life spent 
in the service of the Company has carried him 
to the remotest parts of the Forest ; from Lab- 
rador to Lake Nipigon, and from Georgian Bay 
to the Arctic Circle the rivers and lakes and 
Trails are as familiar to him as are the corner 
crossroads to the farmer. By marriage with 
an Ojibway woman he has rather cut himself 
off from his white relatives on the paternal side 
of his house, and has thrown his lot with the 
Ojibways in whose councils his judgment is 
eagerly sought and usually adopted. 

Nothing could be more tenderly affectionate 
than the consideration and care he bestows 
upon ''my missus," the term by which he des- 
ignates his Indian spouse, and his domestic ties 
strengthened by a family of five children, are 
quite as productive of happiness as the best 

123 



The North Country. 

matrimonial alliances of the cities. I recall 
our first meeting with Antoine near the shores 
of Lake Superior; he said to me **My missus, 
he vera sick, me no want to come, but me prom- 
ise long ago, and my missus, he say me keep it 
my promise. If he get more sick, he send it two 
Injun after me." Thus is Antoine by nature 
and environment more Ojibway than French 
Canadian, except that to the unsurpassable 
woodcraft of the Indian he brings the superior 
intelligence and cheerfulness of the French. 

His physical equipment is magnificent; six 
feet tall, deep chested and broad shouldered, he 
looms above the short Ojibways and Crees like 
some monarch oak. A Trader at one of the 
posts told me that ten years ago it had been 
only a pastime for Antoine to pick up a barrel 
containing five hundred pounds of flour and 
carry the same one hundred yards from the 
dock to the Company's warehouse, without 
even breathing hard. And though he has spent 
his entire lifetime constantly matching himself 
against the vigorous Forest, yet I saw him last 
summer carry a one hundred and fifty pound 
canoe over his shoulders across ''Stoney Por- 
tage, ' ' a mile and a half in length. 

124 



Antoine. 

If to labor is to pray, then this man is as- 
sured of Paradise in the hereafter, for in the 
camp he was always at work, and when there 
was nothing more to be done, instead of enjoying 
a merited rest, he would come to me with the sug- 
gestion that we take the guns, and "take a little 
walk" or run down the river in the canoe for 
the purpose, as he quaintly expressed it, ''per- 
haps we see it." By a ''little walk" I may say 
that he meant forcing our way for miles through 
the trackless Forest looking for game, and by 
running down the river he meant a fifteen min- 
utes dash down the current and an hour and a 
half of poling up stream inch by inch on our 
return. 

His religious convictions were beautiful in 
their simplicity; the Catholic Church had 
taught him the pure religion of right living; 
but had not perplexed his mind by an involved 
theolog}^; and thus to the simple worship of 
the Great Spirit, whose presence he finds in the 
rivers and mountains and Forest about him, 
and which speaks to him in the thunder of the 
storm, and murmur of the rivers, the roar of 
the rapids, and the silence of the hills, he has 
added the teachings of the Great Church. I 

125 



The North Country, 

had occasion to go to his tent one morning to 
call him, and received no response for five min- 
utes; finally the manly woodsman issued from 
his tent and simply announced ''I hear him 
when he call, but I was saying my prayers me.'^ 

The Sabbath to him is a holy day ; for he will 
neither fish nor hunt and prefers not to travel 
unless it is imperatively necessary. This frank 
avowal of principle made so simply and with- 
out ostentation by this sturdy woodsman was 
in such decided contrast with the showy dem- 
onstration of some of us dwellers of the city, 
as to be a source of great delight to us who 
have too often known the religion observances to 
be an opportunity for show or else looked upon 
by strong men as a mark of weakness becoming 
only to women. 

If his religious life commands our respect, 
his woodcraft was a continuing source of won- 
der. As a canoeman, I believe he has no equal, 
he being far superior to any Indian I have ever 
known. In going down a river or along the 
lake in hope of ''seeing it" I have known him 
not to take his paddle out of the water for miles 
at a stretch, so there was no noise from dipping 
the paddle in the water at the beginning of the 

126 



Antoine, 

stroke nor from the consequent dripping of 
the few drops from the blade as the paddle was 
taken out at the end ; but in absolute silence was 
the canoe impelled forward by always keeping 
the paddle in the water, and in bringing it 
forward presenting only the edge of the blade 
when advancing it for another stroke. 

In this way it is possible to come within fifty 
feet of deer and moose, for the game is only 
frightened by noise or sudden movement and 
on seeing a canoe noiselessly approaching, the 
game will simply gaze at its occupants with the 
same curiosity as that with which it might be- 
hold a floating log, until the canoe is at very 
close range. Antoine once took a gentleman, 
not of our party, whose name I shall not men- 
tion, within fifty feet of a moose; the moose, 
while the canoe was traversing a stretch of 
water for two hundred yards, simply contem- 
plated its silent approach; then at fifty feet the 
gentleman shot five times with his Savage rifle 
— and missed. 

Though Antoine is an excellent marksman, 
and I have frequently seen him hit a small 
rock five hundred yards distant with my Sav- 
age rifle, yet all of his game is killed at range 

127 



The North Country, 

of less than fifty feet, for he uses the proverbial 
muzzle loading Hudson's Bay Company trade 
gun loaded with buck shot, which has a very 
short range and which is about as accurate as 
a fifteenth century brass cannon. I tried to 
persuade Antoine to let me purchase for him 
an up to date breech loading gun, but it was of 
no use, he said '*I not use him, cause I not able 
to buy cartridges.*' A Savage rifle had been 
given him, but on account of the cost of fixed 
ammunition, he clings to the old trade gun, and 
offsets by his skill in approaching game, what 
his gun lacks in range and accuracy. I used to 
be inclined to censure the company for selling 
such crude guns to the Indians, but since the 
Indians will have no other kind, except those 
which they can load with powder and ball, I am 
not disposed to quarrel longer with the Com- 
pany on that score. 

If it is a treat to hunt with Antoine noiselessly 
paddling at the stern of the canoe, it is still 
a greater delight to hunt from behind his broad 
back as he kneels in the bow. Antoine is like 
his nimosh (dog) in that he seldom speaks un- 
less spoken to, yet he makes you thoroughly 
understand. His vision is phenomenal ; I have 

128 




AUTHOR AND BIDDEQUAW OX MAXITOWICK LAKE. 



Antoine, 

often seen him peer ahead at something in the 
water, and then laconically announce *'wawa" — 
the wild goose,— and after searching the water 
in vain I would finally descry what appeared 
to be two black sticks protruding six inches 
above the water a mile and a half away. 

But when Antoine sees large game, then is 
given an exhibition of pointing that would put 
your finest Irish setter to the blush for shame. 
The hunter's head goes forward, his eyes blaze 
like two coals, his nostrils are distended and 
the tense muscles of his whole body fairly 
quiver with restrained motion ; every muscle is 
as tight as a bow string as he crouches much 
like a tiger, poised for a spring. In hunting 
with him it is only necessary to observe his 
movements and the game is pointed out to you 
without a spoken word or a single gesture of 
the hand. 

His sense of smell also is almost as keen as 
that of the animals he trails. He has fre- 
quently scented bear before we came upon his 
large tracks, and his skill in imitating the calls 
of various animals is phenomenal. In travel- 
ing down the rivers we frequently came upon 
flocks of young ducks, called *'saubles," not yet 

(9) 129 



The North Country, 

old enough to fly, but able to run through the 
water at a rate of speed that would far exceed 
that of a man running on the shore ; the mother 
duck guarding her flock would start up with 
her triple note of alarm '*Honk ! Honk ! Honk !'* 
and fly down stream ahead of us followed by 
her ducklings, but unwisely flying considerably 
ahead of them. Then Antoine would imitate 
the call of the mother duck and, in response, 
the ducklings would often cease their flight and 
huddle into the shore beside the fallen brush 
where we would approach within thirty feet 
and, if our larder needed duck, we would bag a 
goodly supply. 

I recall one evening about nine o'clock that 
the ''Angel Child" and Antoine and myself 
were out on Whitefish Lake trying to ''see 
something" when through the gathering gloom 
we saw a mink sixty feet from the boat swim- 
ming into the shore ; Antoine said ' ' We have it 
some fun" and began to call the mink, which 
at first circled about in bewilderment trying to 
locate the sound and at length started straight 
for the canoe uttering a peculiar sound, until 
within eight feet; then seeing us started in an 
opposite direction. 

130 



Antoine. 

But with Antoine, keen as is the hunter's 
instinct, the social nature is equally marked. 
I have seen him at a Hudson's Bay Post 
when the trading room was thronged with Ojib- 
ways and Crees, mostly squaws and girls, when 
the Trader and his salesmen were having diffi- 
culty in understanding the wishes of his 
various dusky customers. Then was Antoine at 
his best, talking with the Indians in Cree and 
Ojibway as the case demanded, with a smile 
and a pleasant word for each, ascertaining their 
wants and making them known to the Trader, 
helping both him and his customers to a clear 
understanding and giving to all his acts a sense 
of ease and good fellowship that was exceed- 
ingly contagious. 

The Trader told me, that he regretted that 
I was going to take Antoine with me into the 
Woods as he was almost indispensable to him 
in his dealing with the Indians, as they had such 
complete confidence in him, and his understand- 
ing of their wants together with his willingness 
to be of service was so complete, that both the 
Indians and the Trader were better satisfied 
when Antoine was present to assist them, for 
while the Trader understood the different lan- 

131 



The North Country. 

guages of the Ojibways and the Crees to some 
extent, yet he had not that complete mastery 
which was Antoine's. 

I suspect Antoine of having an extremely 
keen sense of humor, the more acute because 
it is subdued. I recall an incident at one of 
the Company's posts on an evening after dark, 
that occasioned me much inward mirth and 
some of my friends an unseemly amount of 
outward glee. I was surrounded by a crowd 
of Crees and Ojibways and desired to find my 
three guides so I uttered our agreed call "Ki- 
yi-yi" and finally succeeded in bringing them 
to me; some of the Cree girls referring to my 
call said to Antoine ''The master, he must be 
drunk." Then I turned to him and asked him 
what he replied, and with just a twinkle about 
the corner of his eye he said, "I tell it dose 
Crees, the master mos always lak dat. ' ' 

One morning in camp I was passing the 
guides' tent when something I saw caused me 
to stop and take a good look. It seemed that 
Biddequaw slept next to the opening of the 
tent, then Antoine and then Neshwabun and 
Masinaqua. The thing that had aroused my 
curiosity was a large log eight inches in diam- 

132 



Antoine. 

eter and extending the whole width of the tent 
dividing Biddequaw and Antoine from the 
other Indians. I then inquired of Antoine, if 
he had that log to keep his back warm, and, with 
some considerable earnestness he informed me 
"Dose Injun, Masinaqua and Neshwabun, they 
kick just same lak horse, so I build it stall lak 
for horse, me. ' * 

One quality of this man of which I speak with 
particular appreciation was his chivalrous and 
gentle attitude toward women; one looks for 
that sort of thing in men who have had a back- 
ground of several centuries of culture and 
training, but one should hardly expect to find 
it in a man whose whole life has been spent in 
the depths of the Forest in a daily struggle 
with the powerful forces which meet him at all 
points. Yet, with this man, the contact with 
the rough life of the Woods seems to have de- 
veloped a marked attitude of courtesy and real 
gentility the more noticeable by reason of the 
simplicity and unstudied ease and naturalness 
with which it was expressed, for he wore his 
chivalry as easily as he wore his hat. He 
seemed thoughtful of all women simply because 
they were women; I noticed the trait in his 

133 



The North Country. 

helpfulness to the squaws at the Company's 
post and I noticed it continually in his attitude 
toward Chum. As I have stated from the first 
Chum and Antoine were friends and her re- 
spect and confidence in him were matters of 
daily growth. 

In going over the trail when we men of the 
city were too busy with our own burdens to 
give much thought to Chum, this dark skinned 
woodsman was never too heavily laden but 
what he was constantly alive to everything that 
might contribute to her ease or pleasure. At 
the portage where it was too rough for her to 
wade the stream, he, without suggestion car- 
ried the canoe over the rocky trail, that she 
might fish with comfort at the foot of a falls 
above the rapids. When a particularly edible 
duck or partridge was killed his expressed 
thought was *'The lady, I think he like it." 
I must confess that his gentle consideration 
and chivalry toward ''the lady" far exceeded 
our own. 

I recall his delicacy one day when Dad and 
the "Angel Child" and myself had decided to 
take a bath in the river a mile from the camp, 
when unexpectedly Chum and Antoine arrived. 

134 



Antoine. 

Now Chum was tired out so she didn't propose 
to retrace her steps on the Trail at once, but 
didn't wish to interfere with our bath so she 
went a couple of rods down the river and an- 
nounced ^*I will look at the rapids in the other 
direction while you take your bath" and with 
that we proceeded to follow her advice. But 
when we asked Antoine to join us he modestly 
replied "No, me not take bath while lady is 
near. ' ' 

It is the straws which show which way the 
wind is blowing, so it was the little nameless 
acts which were marking this unlettered friend 
of the Forest as a true gentleman of a very 
imusual and superior quality. Sometime I 
shall go back to the Forest, if only to take this 
man by the hand and look into his strong, hon- 
est face and talk over our happy days together, 
but in the meantime of all the pleasant per- 
sonal recollections that come to us from the 
North AVoods, I am certain that Chum and I 
shall both hold in fondest remembrance the 
strong, yet gentle figure of Antoine. 



135 



The North Country, 
CHAPTER XL 

THE CAMP. 

"Who hath smelt wood smoke at Twilight? Who hath heard 
the birch logs burning? 
Who is quick to read the noises of the Night? 
Let him follow with the others, for the young men's feef 

are turning 
To the camps of proved desire and known delight." 

Whether it be a lean-to or a tent, since a 
camp is that spot in the Forest which you call 
''home," it must necessarily turn out that your 
happiest moments center about the camp; for 
no matter how keen the sport with the rod has 
been as you have waded the stream during the 
day, or how fine a shot you have made in the 
Forest, your joy has been florescent and in 
liquid form you have been unable to fully 
grasp it ; but the warmth of the roaring friend- 
ship fire will crystallize your joy until it is a 
thing you can completely grasp and feel and 
hold. 

Each member of the party has been out dur- 
ing the day, each one has come into camp tired 
and hungry, and each has had a different ex- 

136 



The Camp, 

perience. Nothing ever before tasted as good 
as the evening meal which the guides spread 
upon the ground before you, and, as it is fin- 
ished, yon are certain that never in your life 
were you quite so full of contentment. In this 
mood you take your place in silence beside the 
blazing pile of birch and pine logs, which has 
been lighted by the guides, who have also pro- 
vided a large supply of fuel, near at hand, for 
they know that notwithstanding you are tired 
with your exertions of the day, there will be 
a Council lasting far into the night. 

The shadows which have been deepening 
down the isles of the Forests, have turned at 
last to inky darkness that has crept up like 
a living thing which, fearful of the fire light, 
remains just a foot behind you waiting to creep 
forward if the fire shall die down; the spruce 
trees against which you rest your back are 
wrapped in gloom except the side next to the 
fire, which, shooting upward, throws the yellow 
light for a short distance upon the lance-like 
branches thrust outward in defense of the tree 
trunk. The fact that beyond the small circle 
all is thick darkness and mystery, does not dis- 
turb you, for, as you quietly puff your pipe 

137 



The North Country. 

and gaze into the flame, you are living again 
the events of the day more fully than the 
reality. 

You have begun to see visions : the deer you 
failed to get, the trout that took your fly and 
cleared the falls by a foot, before you had 
thought to try to check him, come out of the 
flames to greet you; you recall how wonderful 
a flash of color your fish presented as he leaped 
from the white water into the sunshine, and as 
you recall how foolish you felt not to check 
him, you unconsciously laugh aloud ; to be sure 
merely a quiet chuckle intended only for your- 
self, but the other members of your party 
about the fire have heard it ; you have disturbed 
their visions coming out of the flames, and in 
justification you must explain your mirth. 

So you relight your pipe and begin to tell the 
story of your leaping trout, and the Council is 
on. Now begins the chronicle of the adven- 
tures of the day and, though your back is so 
cold that it has nearly frozen to the spruce 
tree, you will not leave the fire until each has 
related his adventure, and you find that the 
fire has burned very low before you seek the 
shelter of your tent. 

138 



The Camp. 

In making your camp it is always best to se- 
lect an oj^en place, if possible, where the sun can 
get through the Forest, not only for the reason 
that it is more cheerful, but it will be less damp ; 
this is particularly advisable provided you con- 
temi^late staying for several days. The spot 
where you pitch your tent should be upon a 
knoll or at least elevated above the surround- 
ing ground, for nothing is quite so disagree- 
able as to have the water from the surrounding 
landscape drain into your tent during a rain. 

Next, see that the tent site is level, and free 
from obstructions such as stones, roots and 
stumps. All these you can quickly cut out or 
pry out with your ax. Next cut your tent pegs 
about twenty-four inches long. Your tent, if it 
is the right kind has an eyelet at each end, and 
through these eyelets you have run a stout rope 
upon which the ridge tape of the tent rests. 
Now, if the space you have selected as being 
elevated and cleared also happens to have two 
trees on each side opposite to each other, your 
proposition in erecting the tent will be easy. 
You tie one end of the rope around one tree at a 
proper height; then you tie the other end 
around the opposite tree, pulling it as taut as 

139 



The Camp. 

Next, take the remaining long sapling and 
tie one end of your ridge rope within a foot 
of the end; then pull the other end tight until 
the tent ridge is taut against the sapling, when 
you tie the other end firmly to the sapling. 
Now, with the help of your camp comrade, you 
place one end of the ridge pole in the crotch of 
the two crossed saplings, and the other end in 
the crotch of the other pair of saplings and you 
are prepared to elevate your saplings to the 
desired height and stake out your tent. If you 
then take your two small forked saplings and 
brace them against the point where each pair 
of saplings holding the ridge pole cross, you 
will have a tent so firm as to outride a hurri- 
cane. 

Our tents were thus erected the wild night 
we spent in the open, on the very top of the 
mountain at Hawk Lake, absolutely exposed to 
the full blast of the wind and sweep of the rain, 
yet at no time during the gale were they in any 
danger of blowing down. But the small forked 
saplings used in this construction as braces are 
very important. "We were camping one night 
in a protected spot at the foot of Pigeon Falls. 

141 



The North Country. 

At day break there began a heavy rain with a 
slight wind and Chum's tent, which the Indians 
had forgotten to brace, fell down; the collapse 
was too complete at the time to be humorous. 
I crawled out into the rain and held up the 
ridge pole until the Indians came and righted 
matters; in the meantime where the tent was 
loose the water gathered in bowls, but notwith- 
standing it was resting upon Chum, the tent 
did not leak. 

After your tent is firmly erected and anchored 
your next consideration will be for your bed. 
A young balsam tree exactly meets your need 
in this respect ; cut down one or two of them and 
pull off the fans and, when you have sufficient 
take them to your tent. The larger branches 
you spread with the stems toward the foot of 
the tent convex side upward so as to give as 
much spring as possible; it is best to have two 
layers thus; then begin at the head and with 
the front side up lace the stems of the fans into 
the convex layers already covering the ground ; 
place several layers thus with the fans upward 
until you have a bed eighteen inches thick. 
Now spread your rubber blanket poncho over 

142 



The Camp, 

the balsam and, with your sweater for a pillow, 
your bed is ready. 

If you have an idea that such a bed is soft 
and springy, you are destined to a decided sur- 
prise for such a bed is not as soft as the earth 
and just about equal in springiness; the most 
that can be said of it is that it raises you off 
the damp earth. I have spent two hours in 
making a bed of balsam of such thickness that 
a step ladder would have been convenient to use 
in climbing in, but the bed three feet thick is 
not one whit softer nor more springy than the 
bed six inches thick. The Indians know this 
and consequently do not waste time in placing 
useless layers of balsam, but use only enough 
to protect them from the damp ground. 

The balsam, however, is delightful to smell 
and, in spite of the hardness of the bed, you 
will sleep soundly and awaken in the morn en- 
tirely refreshed. I have the testimony of the 
other four members of my party and the four 
guides, that one night after I had rolled into 
my blankets, the Doctor shot off his gun near 
my head to awaken me, but I must confess to 
not having heard the gun— thus there must be 

143 



The North Country. 

something in the hard bed that is particularly 
conducive to sleep. 

My experience the first night after I had 
come from the woods rather confirms that 
theory. The bed at the frontier inn was a 
spring wire mesh with a very good mattress, 
making a delightfully soft resting place into 
which I rolled with a deep sense of satisfac- 
tion and anticipated enjoyment, but it was so 
soft that I could not sleep a wink although I 
was completely tired out. So at three o'clock 
in the morning I unstrapped my pack and rolled 
up in my woolen blankets on the hard board 
floor and until seven o'clock I had a delightful 
sleep. Strange though it may seem, sleeping 
upon a layer of balsam upon the ground even 
in wet and cold weather will not produce colds. 
Frequently our party was wet during the day, 
and had to cut wet boughs for a bed, yet none of 
us ever suffered any inconvenience, while one 
of our members who had possessed a hacking 
cough for many years, entirely rid himself of 
it by sleeping upon the aromatic hemlock and 
balsam. 

That which is most essential and delightful 
in a camp is a fire, and its delight is increased 

144 



The Camp. 

by the fact that it is at all times at hand and 
easily procured; in one-half an hour you can 
cut down and chop up enough dead pines of 
three to four inches in thickness to last all day 
long. Beginning with a piece of birch bark 
and building it up with dry twigs you are short- 
ly ready to pile on crosswise your pine logs. 
In dry weather it will take less time than it 
takes to tell about it, but even in wet weather 
it is easily and quickly accomplished, the only 
difference is that, as the outside of your pines 
are wet, you will have to split them lengthwise 
in order to get a dry surface to ignite. 

I notice that Biddequaw always has a roll of 
dry bark stowed away for wet weather under 
the bow decking of the canoe and with this the 
problem of a fire even in a downpour is easy 
of solution. If you are cooking you will need 
two green logs of respectable size, converging 
slightly upon which to set your pans and be- 
tween which to gather the coals for cooking. 

There is nothing in the life of the camp that 
gives one so much pleasure as the friendship 
fire; it is most appropriately named ''friend- 
ship" for, in the midst of a world of inky black- 
ness and mystery through which a thousand 

(10) 145 



The North Country. 

forest creatures are moving, its little circle of 
light is the one spot of brightness and friendli- 
ness; and, as you draw in toward the magic 
circle of its charm, it warms your very soul 
with comfort and good feeling for all mankind. 
Strange though it may seem the friendship fire 
does not promote talk; to hQ sure your Council 
will always be held about it, but before the 
Council there will be only meditation and dur- 
ing the narrative of individual adventures and 
afterwards there will be no discussion. It is 
rather the place for visions and dreams and, 
except during the Council, no word will be 
spoken ; for hours in silence you will sit by the 
blazing logs, each member bound in the circle 
of friendship, yet with not a single utterance, 
each one gazing at the separate features of his 
own vision and lost in the spell of his dreams. 



146 



The Camp, 
CHAPTER XII. 

THE CAMP— CONTINUED. 

All labor and duties connected with the camp 
were performed by the guides; Antoine and 
Biddequaw attended to all the cooking, while 
Neshwabun and Masinaqua pared the potatoes, 
cleaned the fish, plucked the birds, and prepared 
the game, besides cutting the wood for the 
fires. As I have before remarked all our guides 
were Ojibways for even Antoine himself, in 
spite of his French Canadian paternal ances- 
try, must be reckoned as an Ojibway. 

Of all Indians this nation is by far the high- 
est type, both in intelligence and character de- 
velopment. Their country extends from Geor- 
gian Bay as far north as Lake Abitibi, and, 
while some Ojibways are to be found scattered 
over the territory adjoining Hudson Bay, yet 
that territory is for the most part inhabited by 
the Crees. The Ojibways as a rule are not 
large men as are the Sioux, but are short and 
solidly built ; for centuries they have been hunt- 

147 



The North Country. 

ers and fishermen, true woodsmen of a type the 
direct opposite to the thieving and murdering 
Sioux and Crows of the western plains and 
mountains, and as hunters and canoemen they 
have no equals. 

It is this nation dwelling ''by the Big-Sea- 
Water ' ' that Longfellow has immortalized, and 
each year do they render the play Hiawatha in 
the Forest. Among them honesty and industry 
are the cardinal traits of character, and very 
few and far between are the departures from 
these race characteristics. Personally I would 
as soon trust my most valued possessions to 
these Indians for safe keeping as I would com- 
mit them to a safety deposit vault. 

Masinaqua and Neshwabun are Brunswick 
Indians, making their headquarters at the Com- 
pany's Post of that name beyond the Height 
of Land toward Hudson's Bay, while Antoine 
and Biddequaw make the post on the Height of 
Land their base of supply. It is a delight to 
observe these two prepare a meal. They have 
worked together for so many years that it is as 
if one mind were employing two pairs of hands ; 
in preparing the meal each supplements the 
other. Antoine told me about the camp fire that 

148 



The Camp. 

he and Biddequaw had been together since they 
were mere boys ; they have hunted together for 
a lifetime, until they have become inseparable, 
and, when they come in from the hunt, Bidde- 
quaw lives in Antoine's cabin as his own kin- 
dred are all dead. This Damon and Pythias 
relation is very beautiful to behold, and An- 
toine in speaking of his Indian friend always in 
terms of affection says "Biddequaw, him vera 
fine old gentleman, a vera quiet man." 

The repasts that these two prepare excites 
not only your appetite, but your wonder; both 
are scrupulously clean about their cooking. 
Such trout and partridge and duck and French 
fried potatoes as one has never before tasted; 
our potatoes however, lasted only seven days 
and for two weeks we had no more of these, but 
their absence was not noticed, and for the last 
five days in camp we had even exhausted our 
dried apples, prunes, rice, com meal and sugar 
and beans, and only our pork and flour and tea 
remained, but, with fish and game, our ex- 
hausted supplies were scarcely noticed. When 
the sugar was gone I brought out a bottle of 
saccharine tablets, which were a continual source 
of delight to Biddequaw, [who had never seen 

149 



The North Country. 

them before, and, who, on first tasting them, 
remarked in Ojibway that 'Hhey must have 
been made in Heaven, they are so sweet." 

With saccharine for sweetening Antoine and 
Biddeqnaw used to make hot doughnuts fit for 
the gods themselves, and Biddequaw's bread 
would arouse the envy of a Waldorf chef. The 
''old gentleman" had no lard so he would fry 
down some fat pork for grease and using that 
for lard would kneel before the fire, knead the 
dough, which he would bake in the frying pan 
in front of the glowing coals, as we had no 
baking pans. I saw him one day baking bread 
in his frying pan before an open fire in the 
midst of a very considerable downpour of rain ; 
he sheltered his dough with a tin pan and a 
piece of birch bark and, while I do not see how 
it was possible to produce such a result, yet the 
fact remains that the bread was equal to that 
of any first class metropolitan baker. 

In going into the woods the reader will be 
wise to take a folding aluminum baker for there 
are few Indians and no white men who can 
bake bread like that of Biddequaw with the 
use of a frying pan. The baker is shaped like 
a ''V" turned over on its side with a shelf in 

150 



The Camp. 

the middle, and the open side turned toward 
the fire; this reflects the heat rays from the 
sides of the wedge so that the baking is done 
evenly and quickly in any kind of weather, and 
for roasting meat before the open fire it has no 
equal. No camp should be without it. 

The bacon which Antoine prepared for us 
was the most delicious I have ever eaten; al- 
ways crisp and hot, and entirely free from 
grease; and in making side trips from camp 
several slices between some of Biddequaw's 
bread always made an appetizing sandwich. I 
think the absence of grease was due to the man- 
ner in which Antoine prepared the bacon and 
his method might well be followed by some of 
our city house cooks. He would always place the 
slices in a frying-pan half full of water and boil 
them over the fire for several minutes thus ab- 
stracting the superfluous grease ; then he would 
turn off the grease and water and fry the bacon 
until it was crisp and brown. 

No camp, not even a white man's camp, seems 
quite complete without a dog, particularly if 
the dog has possibilities for usefulness, but I 
am convinced that even a useless dog adds a 
cheerful and homelike spirit to any camp. The 

151 



The North Country, 

dog which Antoine brought with him was named 
'^Waugosh," the fox, of a breed entirely unlike 
anything seen outside the North Woods. Ex- 
cepting his muzzle and feet which were a beau- 
tiful tan, and his white throat and breast, he 
was covered with a thick coat of straight dark 
hair. He was about the size and build of an 
Irish setter, but his teeth were exceedingly long 
and sharp. His gentle disposition made him 
an ideal pet for a camp, while his intelligence 
made him a superb hunter. When our provi- 
sions began to run low it became necessary to 
secure more game than usual and for this pur- 
pose ''Waugosh" was daily pressed into 
service. 

Now ''Waugosh" does not understand En- 
glish, but when you start from the camp with 
him through the Forest and command him in 
Ojibway to ^'Kezivitch" he knows that you 
mean '^go hunt," so he starts cheerfully ahead 
until he sees a partridge on the ground, when 
he gives a sharp bark at which the partridge 
flys up into a tree; then **Waugosh" remains 
at the foot of the tree looking up and all you 
have to do is to follow the dog's gaze and you 
have a bead on the partridge. One afternoon 

152 



The Camp. 

Antoine shot eight partridges which ''Wau- 
gosh" had treed in this way. On another af- 
ternoon Antoine and myself had been hunting 
partridges in a thick spruce timber when sud- 
denly the dog gave an entirely different bark— 
Antoine said ''Yes, Wabos" (the rabbit) and 
sure enough the dog had gotten a rabbit. His 
bark for a deer was still different. 

It was interesting to note the care with which 
he jumped out of a canoe; he would always 
jump from the center without touching the sides 
and in response to the command "Tebozit" he 
would leap from the shore into the very center 
of the canoe without causing it to rock in the 
slightest. Once in the canoe however, no ex- 
citement or near presence of game could make 
him bark or whine; in approaching deer he 
would quiver with intense excitement but would 
never bark, not even when we were shooting 
duck on the river would he whine or move about 
in the canoe. Thus did he at all times prove 
a great provider of game for the camp and at 
night his bark at prowling animals would al- 
ways serve to awaken us as well as to frighten 
away the animal actuated by curiosity and the 
smell of bacon. 

153 



The North Country. 

One who has never been in the Forest dur- 
ing full moon has yet before him one of the 
rarest and most beautiful treats which nature 
in her numerous phases offers. As the dark- 
ness is not complete in the North Country until 
after nine o'clock, and it takes considerable 
time for the moon to rise above the mountains, 
it is usually quite late at night before you are 
treated to the glory of the North Country 
bathed in the soft light of the moon. Antoine 
is very fond of playing pedro so that the time 
between supper and moonrise we often spent 
close to the fire playing six-handed pedro upon 
a rubber blanket spread upon the ground. 
Chum and Antoine always managed to become 
partners and it was amusing to note that their 
side was always winning. Antoine is himself 
a very good player but with characteristic 
politeness he would always say ''The Lady, he 
do it;" many a night we have spent thus while 
waiting for a final vision before rolling up in 
our blankets. 

It was at Kawazingema that we first saw the 
Forest by the light of the moon. We had been 
shivering about the friendship fire warming 
one side at a time, waiting in silence, when 

154 



The Gamp. 

above the mountain gradually appeared a yel- 
low glow to be followed by the round full orb 
of the moon. At once the gloom of the Forest 
had vanished and, for an incredible distance, 
a silver haze seemed to permeate the isles of 
pine and spruce where before had been com- 
plete darkness. The branches thrust out later- 
ally across the silver background stood out as 
if chiseled of black Egyptian marble, while be- 
tween the open spaces the soft light poured 
down upon the camp until it were easy to have 
read a book. 

Across the mountains the light unobstructed 
by the trees made large masses of rock and the 
Forest stand out with wonderful distinctness, 
while the river boiling and rushing past the 
camp was converted into a mass of liquid trans- 
lucent silver. The effect of moon light upon 
quiet water is beautiful, but upon a rushing 
crystal stream its beauty passes all description. 
You must see it through your own eyes as no 
words coupled with a stretch of the imagination 
can bring to you that scene of unsurpassing 
enchantment. 

It has become a stream of swirling silver 
boilinff and murmuring between the lane of 

155 



The North Country. 

pines and hemlocks softened by the silver haze 
which is diffused over the whole scene. 

But you cannot drink to your heart's content 
of this scene, for the chill of the night will 
drive you within your tent to the warmth of 
your blankets, and, as you roll yourself in the 
double thickness of comfortable wool, the sooth- 
ing tinkle of the waters rushing five feet be- 
yond your tent steals away your senses, and 
carries you away on its current to the sea of 
happy dreams, and 

" — thou shalt sail in sleep, 
Upon a sea, which all men travel, 
But which no man knows; 
Tomorrow thou shalt come again to port, 
As from a far country." 



156 



A Certain Bear, 
CHAPTER Xm. 

A CERTAIN BEAR. 

Of all the savage instincts slumbering under 
the crustation which civilization has formed 
about the modern man, the most universal and 
yet most inconsistent is the lust for killing wild 
animals. I use the term ** slumbering" advis- 
edly for it is by no means an instinct which is 
dead, as it requires only the sight of a hoof 
print in the sand to quicken it into full life and 
vigor. From savagery to civilization is in- 
deed a far cry, and yet the mania for killing is 
but the spirit of some barbaric ancestor of cen- 
turies ago dwelling within the body of the man 
of to-day. 

It is quite as acute as the Indians' thirst for 
the hunt, and much more unreasoning, for the 
Indian Mils only when he needs food or fur, 
but the White Brother kills without any need 
or reason for his slaughter except the mere 
desire to slay. I confess for myself that the 
instinct does not extend to killing game gener- 
ally, but the signs of bear in my vicinity arouse 

157 



The North Country. 

the strong spirit of the savage and, while the 
spirit is awake, the civilized man is dead. Nor 
is this unusual state of mind due to any danger 
or harm that the bear may occasion, for as a 
rule the black bear is the most harmless of ani- 
mals, unless she is guarding her cubs ; then only 
is she dangerous, for on all other occasions a 
bear will usually run from a man in a panic 
of fright. 

It was in crossing over the mountain Trail 
to Lake Kiiskabi that the savage began to 
waken and the sight of the fallen trees but re- 
cently pulled to pieces by the bears in search 
of ants, was the occasion for arousing a feeling 
before that entirely unknown and undreamed 
of; and it was only the fact that I was loaded 
down with eighty pounds of duffel and the rest 
of my party was hastening ahead on the Trail, 
that restrained the almost insuperable desire 
to search the mountain for the animals that had 
been but recently feeding near at hand. 

At the camp on Hawk Mountain however, 
when Masinaqua, who had been ** taking a little 
walk," reported numerous signs of bear, that 
the restraining leash was slipped and the sav- 
age spirit was supreme. I handed Masinaqua 

158 



A Certain Bear, 

''Bill's" rifle and belt and with my own in 
hand we started up the mountain to hunt. For 
half an hour we toiled upward until we had 
passed out of sight of the smoke rising from 
our camp fires and had arrived on the bare 
face of the mountain. Soon we came upon a 
foot print, which resembled a broad pad with 
claws at the end, made in the damp earth ; Ma- 
sinaqua was at once on his knees sniffing the 
print which he announced had been made no 
longer than ten minutes before. 

At once we were like hounds upon a scent, 
the Indian furnishing the skill and I the zeal; 
we lost several precious minutes in searching 
the ground before we found another foot print, 
but by that time we had gotten the direction 
in which our quarry was going and the excite- 
ment began to increase. Each time the Indian 
sniffed the tell-tale mark he reported it to be 
fresher than before, as it led up the mountain ; 
frequently we would stop and search the 
ground ahead of us expecting to see the bear, 
but each time were we doomed to disappoint- 
ment. In following the broad foot prints we 
frequently came upon fallen trees lately torn 
to pieces, but these did not divert us for the 

159 



The North Country. 

minutes of daylight were short and already 
the gray banks of cloud were settling on the 
mountain top ahead of us, and the problem 
had resolved itself to a race with darkness. 

As we reached the crest above us the cloud 
had become so dense that we could see but 
fifteen feet ahead, thus we crossed over and 
floundered about among the rotten trees fallen 
upon the ground in search of our scent, until 
the mist had become so thick that the hunt 
had to be abandoned and we were obliged to re- 
turn through the darkness empty handed to 
camp. For a time the spirit of the savage 
slumbered, but his sleep was very light, for at 
the portage in breaking a Trail from the rapids 
back to camp the sight of a hollow tramped 
with heavy feet, and the remains of a pickerel 's 
head gave us a new thrill of life, but the tracks 
were too old to give any promise of a success- 
ful hunt to say nothing of the impossibility of 
trailing game through that jungle of Forest. 

In traveling through the lakes it was the bare 
spots on the mountains that interested me most, 
and I was constantly searching them for a 
glimpse of a moving spot of black. The two 

160 




ENTERING PIGEON FALLS. 



A Certain Bear, 

red deer on the shore of the Lake of the Great 
Spirit, with their beautiful fire red bodies out- 
lined against the deep green were of compara- 
tively small interest for my mind was on other 
things. It was at Pigeon Falls however, that 
my lust was satiated. We had made our camp 
for the night at the end of the portage and after 
supper Antoine proposed that we go out upon 
the lake ''perhaps we see it." At this welcome 
suggestion I entered the bow of the canoe, with 
the ''Angel Child" sitting upon the middle 
thwart and, with Antoine in the stern to pad- 
dle, we pushed out into the rush of the water 
below the falls and started down the lake. 

It was only seven o'clock, but the declining 
sun had hidden its face in the bank of cloud 
and the long twilight had already befgun to 
steal upon the waters. As we rounded into 
the lake from the rapids, a scene of impressive 
beauty opened out before us; on one side the 
mountain rose from the water, in a mass of 
grayish white rock, bare except for a few stand- 
ing dead pines which the fire that once swept 
the mountain had not destroyed, on the other 
side across the one-half mile of mirrored lake 

(11) 161 



The North Country. 

the hills were covered with a dense forest, 
while between the water stretched out in un- 
ruffled quiet until it was lost in the distant pur- 
ple haze. 

A point one-half mile ahead of us projected 
from the barren mountain out into the water 
and toward this point we had headed our 
canoe. It was an extremely desolate picture, 
the few dead pines standing out in their black- 
ness against the sky line adding to the loneli- 
ness of the scene. My rifle rested across my 
knees, and the paddle lay in the boat and, as 
Antoine was at work in the stern with his pad- 
dle noiselessly forcing the canoe through the 
water, ''Bill" and myself were abandoning 
ourselves to the charm and beauty of the even- 
ing. Suddenly Antoine ceased to paddle and 
the canoe was drifting slowly forward with de- 
creasing motion. ''Bill" and I looked around 
with the intention of asking Antoine what was 
wrong, but, as I beheld him, I understood there 
was no need to ask the question. 

He had slipped his leash and was hot upon 
the scent; crouched forward with head ad- 
vanced and eyes set steadily ahead, every 

162 



A Certain Bear. 

muscle tense and quivering with suppressed ac- 
tion, he was the ideal hunter in action. Fol- 
lowing his gaze to the projecting point of rock 
one-half mile away, I too became tense under 
the excitement of the vision ahead, for in the 
motionless panorama of desolate mountain be- 
fore us, there was a black spot of motion slowly 
coming down from the gray rock and entering 
the water of the lake. Behold the hour for 
which the savage had slumbered was at hand 
and fully awakened he entirely dominated the 
man. 

The bear started at once to swim toward the 
other shore ; he must have been but lately feed- 
ing for his back, which at first appeared above 
the surface, soon sank leaving only his head 
above the water. Now began a race for life; 
no need for quiet canoeing, for a bear once hav- 
ing entered water for the opposite shore never 
turns back ; your canoe may be in his path, but 
that matters not as he will go through your 
canoe before he will swerve from his course. 
So I dropped my rifle into the bottom of the 
canoe and grabbed my paddle and began to dig 
it into the water with a rapidity and energy 

163 



The North Country, 

which I have never since equalled, and with 
Antoine's powerful strokes from the stern we 
started for the wooded shore to head off the 
animal before he should land. Of all the larger 
animals a bear is the slowest swimmer, and 
the caribou the swiftest, so it soon became ap- 
parent that we would succeed in intercepting 
him before he should reach the shore. About 
half way across he raised his head and looked 
up the lake in our direction, but kept steadily 
on his course. 

By this time we had a chance to observe him 
well and though he was sunk low in the water 
with even his lower jaw beneath the surface, 
his head with the ears erect appeared unusually 
large. We had arrived about twenty feet from 
the shore where the water was only four feet 
deep and the bear was two hundred yards ahead 
of lis about forty feet from the shore, and as 
Antoine thought, if we waited until he landed 
before shooting, we would probably lose him, 
we opened fire at the small mark of his head. 
I shot first and missed by two feet low, then 
"Bill's" rifle cracked behind me as he shot a 
foot high. I called out we were too far away, 

164 




AUTHOR AND BIDDEQUAW AT HUDSON S BAY POST. 



A Certain Bear. 

so we paddled frantically until within seventy- 
five yards of the black head, and as Antoine 
swung the canoe broadside to give us both a 
shot, the small bead-like eyes were plainly visi- 
ble. 

By this time our prey was within fifteen feet 
of the shore; slowly we both pulled our beads 
down fine upon the black head, each of us re- 
solved not to miss again, my choice being a 
spot just behind the ear; both rifles barked at 
the same instant and both shots had reached 
their mark. We quickly covered the interven- 
ing distance to the struggling animal, whose 
head was spouting blood like a carmine spring. 
Antoine grabbed him by the ears, but, as a 
wounded bear is hardly even a man's pet, when 
he raised his paws in his death struggle to 
strike, Antoine wisely let go, but before he could 
grasp him again he sank into the lake. To our 
dismay on examining the lake instead of being 
about four feet as was the case at that distance 
further up where we had begun to shoot, it ap- 
peared to be very deep, but we were confident 
that with a pole we could secure our bear, so 
Antoine went ashore and cut a pole twenty-five 

165 



The North Country. 

feet long, but we found that it did not reach 
the bottom. In feverish haste we returned to 
camp and enlisted the two Indians and another 
canoe and with lines rigged with hooks we grap- 
pled and trolled for two hours, but to avail. 

Since we did not secure the animal it is a 
matter of regret that we shot him at all, but 
the result could not have well been otherwise, 
for had we waited until he had landed, one quick 
jump into the Forest would have taken him be- 
yond our sight, and we supposed that as the 
water beneath the canoe twenty feet from the 
shore was only four feet, at fifteen feet from 
the shore it would not be deeper where the bear 
was swimming; nor could Antoine longer hold 
on to the bear's ears, while those paws were 
raised to drag him down. 

It may be that the largest bear like the 
largest fish, always gets away; of the size of 
OUT kill we can only guess from the fourteen 
inches length of head as we saw no more of 
Mm after he had entered the water. Three 
days later, however, some Indians traveling 
through the lake found his body floating on 
the surface and, upon examining him, saw the 

166 



A Certain Bear. 

two bullet holes within an inch of each other 
behind the ear and completely piercing the 
head. They also reported for our satisfaction 
that he was one of the largest they had seen 
in the country, but their tidings were of small 
solace to us— for we had lost our bear and in 
losing him the savage had quenched his thirst 
for blood and slumbered. 



167 



The North Country. 
CHAPTER Xiy, 

TROUT. 

"Of recreation there is none 
So free as fishing is alone; 
All other pastimes do no less 
Than mind and body both possess;' 
My hand alone my work can do, 
So I can fish and study too." 

Of all the pastimes which the mind of man 
has invented for his diversion and delight, I 
believe the noblest and most ancient is that of 
fishing; not only is it the fairest type of sport, 
but at once the most healthful kind of recrea- 
tion in that it truly recreates. If one hunts 
in a district abounding in game, one need only 
be a fair shot to secure his quarry and in the 
killing, he often causes the game to suffer be- 
fore death takes place; again the hunt, unless 
it is engaged in for the mere purpose of secur- 
ing provisions, is an appeal to the latent 
instincts of the savage elements in a man's 
nature, rousing his lust for blood and filling his 
mind with a wild and unnatural excitement. 

168 



Trout, 

But fishing is a sport of a different order; 
to begin with, to play the game fairly with light 
tackle is to give the fish as much chance for his 
freedom as the angler for his capture, and you 
match your skill against the skill of the fish. 
Then in the killing of the fish, by reason of the 
low order of his nervous system there is practi- 
cally no suffering on the part of the catch ; and, 
most of all, the sport has an elevating influence 
on the part of the man himself. It teaches him 
a lesson of patience and control, it gives him 
the companionship of woods and clear streams, 
it takes him out into God's out-of-doors and, 
instead of rousing his savage instinct, the gen- 
tle touch of nature quiets him down as a shower 
calms the tossing surface of a lake. 

On a fishing trip the busy man also gets his 
opportunity for a quiet bit of introspection, a 
chance to pause in his rush through life and, 
under the blue canopy of Heaven, to quietly 
take stock of himself; if it were only known 
I believe more good thoughts have been born 
while man has been luring the fish than at any 
other time; Daniel Webster confesses that the 
beautiful thought of his Bunker Hill oration 
** Venerable men, you have come down to us 

169 



The North Country, 

from a former generation, Heaven has bounte- 
ously lengthened out your lives that you might 
behold this happy day," came to him while 
wading a crystal trout stream. But, though 
no such thoughts come to us of lesser mould, it 
is good for us that the waters reflect the blue 
of the Heavens, and mirror the glorious green 
mantle with which the Forest is decked. 

For the virtuous, it stimulates and renews 
the life; for the idle, it takes him beyond the 
reach of temptations which call to his idleness ; 
and for all, it brings peace and quietness; no 
one can cultivate the acquaintance of a trout 
stream without being soothed and uplifted. 

I realize that the fishing fraternity, like the 
lawyers, have by popular reputation fallen into 
disrepute, but let the reader remember that 
Jesus in choosing his disciples preferred the 
fishermen, and let him also search his list of 
friends and see if the fishermen are not all 
honest men. I have known many disciples of 
the rod but have yet to find one who was 
either mean or dishonest. Ex-President Cleve- 
land quaintly remarks that in recounting ad- 
ventures with the rod the rule of the brother- 
hood is for "veracity in essentials," while in 

170 



Trout. 

non-essentials there shall be ''reciprocal lati- 
tude," but I shall try to preserve veracity in 
this sketch in both essentials and non-essentials. 

The fish of which I speak are all the salveli- 
nus fontinalis of the North commonly known as 
*' brook, red-spotted or speckled trout" and not 
the gray lake trout or namaycush, nor the rain- 
bow, nor the German brown trout. This most 
beautiful of all fresh water fish, the fontinalis 
—living in springs— far surpasses any of his 
brothers; in form no other trout has half the 
grace, in color nothing can approach the beauty 
of the vermilion dots with their areola of dark 
blue, and, when in action, his strength and in- 
telligence mark him as king of all fresh water 
fauna. Perhaps nowhere in the whole world 
are the conditions so favorable to his develop- 
ment as in the crystal ice water of the North 
Country; here the waters are rapid and highly 
aerated; here no pollution of the streams has 
ever marred the crystal purity of the virgin 
water. 

In the streams of the North Country all your 
previous notions as to flies, and habits of fish 
and their size, will be shaittered. Professor 
Wright of Toronto University is the authority 

171 



The North Country. 

for the statement that on the Nipigon, single 
specimens of genuine salvelinus fontinalis have 
been taken weighing seventeen pounds, while 
many of the streams of the country north of 
Lake Superior have frequently yielded and con- 
tinue to produce fontinalis weighing six and 
seven pounds each. This unusual size is possi- 
ble by reason of the abundance of food and the 
depth of the cold waters in which the trout 
live, and the fact that most of the streams are 
virgin territory having been but seldom, if 
ever, fished. Some idea of the conditions may 
be had by considering that their average sum- 
mer temperature is only about forty-five de- 
grees and, as a result, the fish are not driven 
to deep water during the summer, but rise to 
the fly throughout July and August and until 
the ice begins to form in the latter part of Sep- 
tember. 

In the matter of flies, perhaps your expe- 
rience on the Eastern trout streams has taught 
you that those tied on number eight and ten 
hooks are the most successful; if this be the 
case, when you visit the North Country, leave 
your small flies at home, but take an extra 
supply of flies tied on number four, three and 

172 




ANTOINE AND WAUGOSH. 



Trout. 

two hooks of the best steel you can buy, for the 
trout can see the larger flies better than the 
small ones in the rapids and quick water and 
they will have no difficulty in taking hold for 
their mouths are not small. On opening a two- 
pound trout taken last summer, I found a num- 
ber of undigested crawfish three inches in 
length, and I have frequently taken a one-pound 
trout on number two hook. On these waters 
you will need but a small assortment : the pro- 
fessor, queen of the water, dusty miller, Mon- 
treal, silver doctor, the hackles, coachman, griz- 
zly king and the drakes will amply suffice; in 
August the brown hackle and dusty miller are 
noticeable favorites, but in July the brighter 
flies, particularly the silver doctor and parm- 
acheene belle, are in demand. 

A noticeable trait of the fontinalis of the 
North streams is his manner of fighting; on 
the Eastern streams he fights below the water 
making fierce rushes, and coming to the sur- 
face but seldom, but, in three weeks constant 
fishing in August in the North, I took not a 
single trout but what was out of the water most 
of the time, leaping and twisting and turning 
with a rapidity and zeal that would shame the 

173 



The North Country. 

most acrobatic small mouth bass that ever 
swam. 

On a certain river we went into camp at a 
spot which the Indians call **Kawazingema," 
meaning ''trout pool;" do not look for it on 
the map, for it is not marked and is unknown 
except to the Indians who were our guides; 
Antoine has known of it for years, but the In- 
dians learned of it for the first time last 
August. Here the river twists like a letter 
' ' Z " and where the slant of the letter begins at 
top it flows twenty miles an hour at a depth 
of six feet in the middle ; the portion of the river 
corresponding to the slant of the letter is only 
one hundred yards long and opposite the middle 
was our camp. At the lower angle of the **Z'* 
is the trout pool— ''Kawazingema" itself, 
thirty feet deep, where the stream pauses be- 
fore dashing head-long around the lower angle. 

At ' ' Kawazingema " the stream is only fifty 
yards in width and as clear as crystal ; no rains 
ever mar its clarity as its bed, for thirty miles 
above and sixty miles below, is one mass of rock, 
and the mountains at whose base it flows are 
all rock, so that no polluting soil ever washes 

174 



Trout, 

down to discolor the water, which is as trans- 
parent after as before a heavy rain. One has 
no choice of method in fishing here as it is too 
deep to wade, so one must anchor the canoe 
with a heavy weight in the middle of the cur- 
rent about forty feet above the pool and fish 
from the canoe. 

' * Kawazingema " has no small trout, we took 
none that were less than two pounds and there 
are dozens in its depths that weigh five pounds, 
nor are the big ones modest about rising but, 
having set the hook in their jaws, it is almost 
impossible to bring them against the current 
to the net. In this pool the fontinalis are most 
playful and noisy; one morning about four 
o'clock they began to leap and their splashes 
were so continuous and noisy that the whole 
camp was awakened and further sleep impossi- 
ble; for an hour their leaping sounded like a 
dozen large dogs splashing in the water. Dad 
and I resolved to try them the following morn- 
ing and to that end we were on the water at 
four o'clock, but, though we shivered with cold 
for an hour and tried all sorts of flies, they 
could not be induced to rise, until, at last, the 

175 



The North Country. 

metal of our reels had so benumbed our fingers 
that we were obliged to seek the camp fire to 
thaw out. 

That evening, however, they were on the leap 
again, so I anchored the canoe in mid stream 
and began to fish; the sun had set behind the 
mountains and the twilight had begun as I tied 
a brown hackle with a number two hook on my 
leader and let it float down the current toward 
the pool. With fifty feet of line out I began 
to draw the flies across the surface, when with 
a flash and a splash the patriarch of the pool 
had leaped for the brown hackle and, as I 
rose in the canoe and set the hooks I had a thrill 
and shock such as only a powerful galvanic 
battery could give. Then began the most mag- 
nificent fight I have ever seen. 

The trout made a mad dash across the pool 
toward the rapid water ten feet below and i 
stood up to give him the butt in hope of check- 
ing his rush; my thumping heart stood still as 
I watched the rod double to the breaking point, 
but the trout was checked in his rush for he 
darted up a foot out of the water and fell back 
with a loud splash, the waves of which must 

176 



Trout. 

have rocked the canoe forty feet away. 
Antoine from the bank yelled in encourage- 
ment *'Me seen him dat fish, him six pounds 
for sure." Now he began to leap and turn 
somersaults on top of the water, but, try as I 
might, I could not work him an inch against 
the stream toward the canoe, and I knew my 
only hope was that my tackle was sufficient to 
hold him in the pool until his strength was 
spent. 

For ten minutes did I thus keep him in the 
pool, my rod held high with the butt forward 
but with the tip bent only a foot above the 
stream, and I was congratulating myself that 
I would be able to bring him to the net ; in fact 
I could already see his beautiful skin mounted 
and hanging upon my wall, but it is a safe rule 
never to mount your fish before he is caught, 
for at this point he ceased his acrobatic exhibi- 
tion, which had evidently been but a fancy for 
the delight of the other members of my party 
lining the shore and gazing at the show like 
people hypnotized, and started again for the 
rapids at the end of the pool. I well knew the 
turning point of the battle was at hand, but I 

(12) 177 



The North Country. 

could no more stop him than a fly could stop 
the Empire Express; to let him gain the rapid 
water was to lose him beyond all hope of re- 
covery as the stream turned at a sharp angle, 
so I advanced the butt forward until it was 
parallel with the water, still it bent until the 
tip was even with the butt and it could give no 
more, and something had to give way; for an 
instant there was a seeming pause, then the 
tip sprang back and the rod straightened out 
as the leader which I had tested to eight pounds 
parted and the trout dashed down stream. 

To say that his loss occasioned no disappoint- 
ment would be a lack of veracity in essentials, 
yet one's regret that such a magnificent fight 
for life was successful, couldn't be lasting, so 
I hopefully tied another brown hackle. As the 
fly reached the edge of the pool another patri- 
arch leaped, but that was all I ever saw of him 
for in trying to check his rush he broke the 
leader in ten seconds after I struck. This hap- 
pened several times within ten minutes until I 
concluded it was becoming monotonous, and I 
searched for double leaders, but I had been so 
unwise as to leave them at home scorning them 

178 



Trout. 

as unsportsmanlike— next year I shall leave my 
single leaders at home. 

Fearing lest my leaders had weakened I now 
tested one with the spring scales to eight 
pounds and tied to it a small Hildebrand spin- 
ner with a single hook buck-tail fly; this found 
immediate favor and for fifteen minutes I had 
another acrobatic exhibition from the pool up 
to the landing net. I had lost but five leaders 
and taken one fish weighing three and one- 
quarter pounds. During the next few minutes 
before darkness I took three more weighing 
two and one-half, two and one-quarter, and two 
pounds, respectively, and content with enough 
for breakfast I went ashore completely tired 
out, but exceedingly happy. We remained at 
this camp for five days during which time Chum 
and "Bill," Doctor and Dad all took plenty of 
trout, the best of which was two and three- 
quarter pounds, taken by the Doctor, but none 
of which were under two pounds, which seemed 
to be the limit. 

I have often tried to figure out how I could 
have landed the patriarchs which broke my 
tackle at *'Kawazingema," but I am convinced 

179 



The North Country. 

that the only way is to use heavier tackle ; there 
is no question of wading the stream as the water 
is too deep and too swift and you can only fish 
from the anchored canoe. The largest trout 
I took out of this pool was three and one- 
quarter pounds, and to bring him up stream 
against the current taxed my rod and tackle 
to the breaking point, and I am convinced that 
the larger fish can only be taken by using double 
leaders and tackle heavy enough to check the 
trout in his plunge across the pool toward the 
rapids; then, if you can hold him in the pool 
until he is tired out, perhaps you will be able 
to drag him against the current up to the land- 
ing net. At Cat Portage there is a big pool at 
the foot of a falls where we took a number of 
good fish mostly two pounds, but we saw none 
that were equal to the monsters that lived in 
' ' Kawazingema. ' ' 

Antoine tells me of the one man whom he had 
taken to this trout Paradise before us, and this 
person slaughtered thirty-eight trout ranging 
from two to five pounds each in one morning. 
If the reader ever has the fortune to be led to 
a place where trout are so numerous, take my 

180 



Trout. 

advice and do not abuse the blessed privilege 
by taking more trout than you can use. If it 
is the sport you are after, file the barb from 
your hook so that your trout can get away at 
any moment he has a half inch of slack line; 
you will lose ten fish for every one you will bring 
to the net, but the few you succeed in killing 
will give you a keener sense of exhilaration 
and pleasure than wasting a hundred fish. 



181 



The North Country. 
CHAPTER XV. 

THE RIVER. 

"Sailed through all its bends and windings. 
Sailed through all its deeps and shallows. 
Through the clear, transparent water. 
Over wide and rushing rivers." 

Of all the manifestations of the Great Mother 
Nature, it is in the river alone that she comes 
to us with unreserved friendliness and com- 
plete intimacy. In all her phases, she is friend- 
ly, but in this alone does her friendliness per- 
mit of intimacy. Perhaps this is due to the 
fact that in the river the element of personality 
is so pronounced as to become almost a human 
quality. One notices it particularly in the 
river's life, which seems to parallel and touch 
the life of man himself at so many points ; for 
like the stream of life flowing through human- 
ity, it springs up in mystery from infinitely 
small beginnings, and grows in strength and 
power until lost in the mystery of the bound- 
less sea. 

Like its human brother it gurgles and totters 

182 



The River, 

in its infancy as a little rill among the rocks 
sheltered by the over-hanging forest; in its 
youth it leaps and plays in its excess of vigor 
over boulders and falls, shouting with its in- 
creased strength ; and in its full vigor it sweeps 
steadily along with a gentle murmur, until 
overtaken by old age, it slowly but peacefully 
merges its spirit in the eternal sea. During 
its course it is not always constant in its move- 
ments for, like man, it frequently pauses in 
shady pools where it enjoys quiet reflections 
and moments of rest before continuing on its 
journey, and during its journey it is the most 
sociable of beings, for it loves the society of 
woods and meadows to which it constantly mur- 
murs its thoughts. 

Nor do we find its life always serene and 
peaceful and free from excitement for it has 
many obstacles to be overcome as it forces its 
way through rocks and across shallows, and 
there are many dangerous rapids through 
which it runs before coming into its quiet 
places; its course frequently leads over high 
precipices where it pauses for an instant before 
taking its downward plunge. Nor is it exempt 
from moods and varying mental states for its 

183 



The North Country, 

lighter vein and deeper musings are quite as 
distinctly marked as those of man himself; on 
one side where the water is deep you find the 
river grave and thoughtful and silent, but on 
the other bank the water will be shallow, and 
there it ripples, and laughs and plays in its 
gayer mood. Such is the life of a river I have 
in mind, born in crystal purity eight hundred 
feet above Lake Superior at the Height of 
Land, and descending between towering hills 
through the virgin woods inhabited only by 
forest creatures and a few honest Indians, a 
distance of one hundred and fifty miles until 
it finds rest in the clear cool depths of Lake 
Superior. 

Nothing will delight you more than a canoe 
journey in its company to the great lake; even 
the falls and rapids will prove sources of real 
delight and exciting pleasure. For myself the 
most exhilarating of all pleasures is that of 
running through a rapids in a canoe ; it is some- 
what the same sensation as taking a wall or a 
fence on the back of a thoroughbred hunter 
with the pack of hounds in full cry ahead of 
you, but with the difference that the feeling 
lasts longer, and one's pleasure is increased 

184 



The River. 

by the fact that its successful conclusion is en- 
tirely dependent upon the skill and judgment 
with which you handle your paddle; this fact 
gives a dependence upon one's self, not possi- 
ble in the fox hunt. 

The first of the falls down which the river 
plunges is Pigeon Falls a mile below the end 
of the Lake of the Great Spirit— Manitowick; 
here a great volume of water drops eighteen 
feet and this falls the guides proposed to run 
with canoes loaded with three hundred pounds 
of provisions in each, besides tents and camp 
outfit. As the canoes were too heavily laden 
with all the members of our party the five of 
us went ashore to cross below the falls on the 
portage leaving the guides alone in the canoes. 
In haste we took our positions at the side of 
the falls to witness the descent, the guides wait- 
ing until we were ready. At my signal the 
gray canoe pushed into the current and headed 
toward the brink followed by the red canoe, and 
as it arrived in the rapids its pace was consid- 
erably accelerated as if suddenly drawn by 
some powerful magnet. 

Antoine stood up in the stern and gazed an 
instant at the brink which was rough and 

185 



The North Country. 

jagged rock except a space of three feet where 
the water poured in greater volume, while 
Biddequaw sat in the bow with his tongue hang- 
ing out as usual as he headed toward the clear 
water on the brink. We on the bank held our 
breath in suspense as the canoe came on in 
leaps like a magnificent charger; in an instant 
it had reached the falls and plunged down into 
the crest of a counter wave three feet high; 
through this it shot shipping five inches of 
water and amid the shrill ^^Ki-yi-yi" of the 
guides, encouraged by our shouts from the 
bank, dashed through the intervening rapids to 
the end of the portage. The gray canoe safely 
through, the red canoe made the dash over the 
falls and arrived at the end of the rapids; it 
was a magnificent sight to see the Indians lost 
for an instant in the dashing spray to reappear 
driving the canoes with powerful strokes 
through the leaping water. 

No other form of canoeing is half so exciting 
and no other test so fully demonstrates the un- 
rivalled supremacy of the Indian as a canoe- 
man. Indeed there is nothing they will not at- 
tempt and mishap seems only to double their 
agility and resource. On one occasion I was 

186 



The River. 

poling up a heavy rapids with Antoine making 
very slow progress and wearing down my soul 
with the effort; Masinaqua standing in the 
stern of a bark canoe was poling up thirty feet 
ahead of us. His position in the stern caused 
the bow and the front half of the canoe to ride 
high out of the water until the craft was nearly 
on end. In this situation his pole slipped on 
the rocks and he was thrown into the water; 
but not for an instant did he lose his presence 
of mind for his hand still grasped the canoe 
and with one leap he had landed in it once more. 
The canoe in this time had only lost ten feet 
and Masinaqua in the space of a few seconds 
had landed in the water and regained the canoe 
still grasping his pole, and was once more the 
master. 

The river is full of continual surprises and 
changes of scene ; frequently we came suddenly 
upon flocks of duck. On one such occasion, Nesh- 
wabun with ' ' Bill 's ' ' Savage at two hundred and 
fifty yards shot a *'sauble" traveling through 
the water at a rapid rate, through the head, while 
one afternoon I took two with my rifle at one 
hundred yards, while the guides were poling up 
against a rapids. Red deer also were very 

187 



The North Country. 

numerous, for the shores at many places were 
trampled like cow yards where large herds had 
come down to the water to drink. 

One morning two miles below Kawazingema 
at a turn of the river we came upon three red 
deer knee deep in the river, feeding upon lily 
pads; their graceful j9ame red bodies stood 
out in vivid contrast with the deep green back- 
ground of the Forest. These deer are larger 
than the Virginia deer, but their red coats are 
merely temporary garments, for in the latter 
part of September when the snow begins to fall, 
they don their winter fur of grayish white, 
which makes them difficult to distinguish in the 
snow; this gray coat does not change back to 
red until about June. 

Chum's chief delight in the river is white 
water canoeing and she is never quite so pleased 
as when the canoe is leaping through a par- 
ticularly rough bit of rapids. At an exciting 
stretch of white water known as Frenchman's 
Rapids, from the deplorable fact that three 
French voyagers had had the bad luck to be 
unable to dodge the rocks and had been 
drowned, Chum decided she was going to make 
the run while Dad and I left the canoe in order 

188 



The River. 

to take the pictures. The stretch is only a 
hundred yards but while it lasts, it keeps the 
eanoeman busy dodging the rocks. Coming 
through, Chum appeared as unconcerned and as 
much at ease as if she were pouring tea at a five 
o'clock reception, notwithstanding the canoe 
was barely missing the rocks by single inches 
and, as Dad and I re-embarked at the foot of 
the rapids, Chum said ''It was fun but too 
tame," yet she was pretty well soaked by the 
water that had dashed into the canoe. The red 
canoe with the "Angel Child" and Doctor and 
the two guides also came through in great form. 
In running a rapid it is necessary to paddle 
hard so that the canoe may be traveling faster 
than the water ; this is important for in no other 
way is it possible to steer the canoe among the 
rocks. Your strokes must be very quick and short 
and powerful, and at no time should the blade 
of the paddle be far back of the body, for it is the 
pull of the paddle in front of the body that counts 
in running a rapid, and you must have as many 
forward pulls as is possible, therefore you do 
not waste time in a long sweep at the end of the 
stroke as in quiet water traveling, but dig the 
blade into the water with short, sharp, but pow- 

189 



The North Country. 

erful strokes; this applies particularly to the 
bow man, for the man in the stern will necessa- 
rily have considerable work at the last push of 
the paddle in steering. 

There is a most interesting stretch of white 
water known as the Grande Discharge, where the 
river narrows into a gorge studded with rocks, 
great and small, both above and below the sur- 
face. Here within a distance of two hundred 
feet, there is a drop of twenty feet; and 
through this Antoine decided to take the loaded 
canoes after lightening them by sending the rest 
of the party excepting myself, over the portage. 
Each canoe had over three hundred pounds of 
duffel, and, as the gray canoe did not ride as 
high out of the water as the red one, I entered 
the latter to make the run with Masinaqua in 
the bow and Neshwabun in the stern; these In- 
dians had never been through the Discharge be- 
fore and were making the run for the first time. 
As Antoine and Biddequaw knew the course we 
waited above the draw of the current while the 
gray canoe started ahead to indicate to us the 
course we were to follow. 

Running straight through a stretch of white 
water is an experience full of excitement, but 

190 



The River. 

when, in order to avoid the jagged rocks, it is 
necessary to zig-zag back and forth across a 
rapids dashing down npon the boulders like a 
race horse coming down a stretch, you are pre- 
senting to Providence a temptation which is 
almost too great to be endured. Following the 
gray canoe at a distance of fifteen feet and mak- 
ing the gorge ring above the roar of the cataract 
with our piercing ''Ki-yi-yi" we started at one 
bank and ran through the leaping water along 
a lane of boulders until nearly to the other shore, 
where, with an abrupt turn we dashed back 
across the river to avoid another line of rocks 
stationed like sentries guarding the river. 

Across this rocky front we dashed, all three 
paddling and yelling like madmen for the canoe 
was broadside to the leaping waves which were 
coming over us in alarming volume, and which, 
despite our efforts, were sweeping us sideways 
upon the rocks. Near the shore from which 
we started were two boulders further apart 
than the others leaving about four feet space 
between, but filled with tossing foam as the 
waters glancing from the two rocks rushed to- 
gether. Arrived opposite this we twisted the 
bow sharply around and running with the cur- 

191 



The North Country. 

rent dashed into the middle of the opening ; the 
water poured in over the gunwales half fill- 
ing the canoe, and for an instant there was a 
sharp scraping sound as of the scratching of 
a match; we had struck a rock beneath the 
water, but as good luck would have it the rock 
did not rip open the bottom of the canoe but 
merely cut a deep groove ; we should have kept 
to one side so as to barely clear the rock at 
our right and in that way we would have missed 
the rock beneath the water, but in the leaping 
torrent it was impossible to see the obstruc- 
tion, and the Indians were not acquainted with 
its presence. 

In this half-swamped condition we dodged 
the rocks through the rest of the course which 
ended in falls of five feet drop which would 
have been a pleasant incident in an empty 
canoe, but with all the water we had shipped 
we were too heavy to make the descent without 
danger. However there was no stopping, so 
we rushed in; as we took the plunge both the 
Indians and myself partly raised up to brace 
for the shock and in striking the water below 
our weight carried us under the wash of a back 
wave for an instant; then realizing we were 

192 




CHUM RUNNING FRENCHMAN'S RAPIDS. 



The River. 

nearly full of water we dug our paddles into 
the water and landed ten feet from the falls. 

Here, trembling after our relaxation from 
the tense strain and excitement, and shouting 
with glee, we breathed a thanksgiving to the 
Spirit of the Rapids, and after removing our 
duffel emptied the canoe and inspected the dam- 
age caused by the rock ; it had dug a long seam 
in the bottom one-quarter of an inch deep ; had 
it been one-sixteenth deeper, it would have 
ripped through; but, after re-embarking the 
rest of the party we were ready for the excite- 
ment of Crooked Rapids below, and after stop- 
ping for dinner, a little spruce gum cooked down 
on the frying pan and smeared into the groove 
fully repaired our damage. On entering the 
Discharge I took two snap shots of the water 
and purposed taking a number of the gray 
canoe preceding us, but every moment was nec- 
essary in fighting the leaping water and I did 
not even get a chance to think of the camera 
until after we had landed when I got a view of 
the falls at the foot of the Discharge. 

The country along the river is the winter 
hunting ground of Antoine and Biddequaw, and 
their otter dead-falls were to be seen almost 

(13) 193 



The North Country. 

every mile; at one point we came upon the 
frame work of a tepee which Antoine informed 
me had been Biddequaw^s winter quarters. 
Antoine told how he had been traveling with his 
dog team down the river last February and had 
no meat, when he came upon his friend's wig- 
wam, and how the two old friends had sat down 
for a week and feasted on two moose which Bid- 
dequaw had hung up on the trees out of the 
reach of prowlers. 

At another point we came upon a cach^ made 
by Antoine three years before; it contained 
fifteen pounds of pork and twenty pounds of 
flour; we did not stop to examine it other than 
to note its birch bark wrapping was undis- 
turbed. Antoine remarked, in response to my 
query as to its state of preservation, **The 
flour, me think him sour, but the pork, it all 
right and me be here some winter when me 
hungry.'* In the code of the wood these 
caches, which signify something ''hidden," but 
which are not hidden at all, are inviolate; no 
Indian would under any circumstances open one 
for to the owner it may mean life itself during 
some winter journey. That the code is well ob- 
served is attested by the fact that Antoine 's 

194 



The River, 

cache had been in plain view of traveling Ojib- 
ways for three years, and yet the contents were 
as safe and as undisturbed as if locked in a 
steel safety deposit vault. 

The river, during its entire course, excepting 
a few pools, boils and bubbles like a continuous 
crystal spring, and canoeing down stream is a 
perpetual delight, not only on account of the 
rapid water but by reason of the changing 
beauty of the scene. No habitation of man jars 
upon the intoxicating beauty and quiet of the 
undefiled Forest; no ax of the woodsman has 
ever been plied among the tall spruce and pines 
which cover the mountainous shores; here Na- 
ture fresh from the hand of the Great Spirit is 
at her best and one forgets all noise and care 
of the outside world and wishes only that all 
his journey through life might be spent in trav- 
eling upon this soothing stream which lulls him 
into unspoken raptures and quiets him down 
like a prayer. 

One day breaking camp at eight- thirty o 'clock 
in the morning, and stopping an hour to cook 
dinner and another hour to fish a pool, with two 
portages of one-half mile each we traversed 
thirty miles of the stream before two o'clock 

195 



The North Country. 

without touching the paddle to the water ex- 
cept for the purpose of steering. On this day 
we came to a place named Thunder Mountain, 
from the Indian legend that between the gap in 
the heights towering at the edge of the stream, 
dwells the Spirit of the Storm. Antoine who 
was making the trip in the dead of winter from 
the distant Hudson's Bay Post on the Height 
of Land to the Company's post on Lake Su- 
perior, coming down with a team of five dogs 
by way of the frozen surface of the lakes and 
rivers, recounts having been overtaken by a 
blizzard which swooped down upon him from 
the gap in the mountain bringing darkness at 
two o'clock in the afternoon, rendering further 
travel an impossibility coupled with the proxi- 
mate probability of freezing to death as the 
thermometer was sixty-five degrees below zero. 
In this predicament he sought the shelter of 
the mountain in the lee of the wind, and made a 
small fire on the ice to boil some tea ; but, as it 
was impossible to keep a fire alive, to say noth- 
ing of warming the freezing atmosphere, he 
untied the tarpaulin from the sledge, wrapped 
up in blankets and the tarpaulin, and pulling the 
sledge against his back to shelter him from the 

196 



The River. 

wind went to sleep for the night. All night long 
the storm raged, the wind sweeping the river 
clear of snow but drifting it over the sleeper 
and his ''hnskie" dogs. In the morning he 
awoke to find the snow drift five feet above him 
with only a little hole kept open by his warm 
breath ; he had slept warm and suffered no dis- 
comfort, but his dogs were nowhere to be found. 
After tramping around for considerable time 
he finally located them coiled up in the snow 
like furry balls, and on digging them out it was 
found that not one had its feet frozen, and after 
a light breakfast he traveled rapidly down to 
the grateful shelter of the Hudson's Bay Post. 
Eighteen miles from Lake Superior the river 
thunders over the mountain in a fall of one hun- 
dred and eighty-five feet high; there are three 
distinct leaps but no intervening cataract and 
some idea of the height down which it plunges 
may be had by remembering that it is twenty feet 
higher than the mighty Niagara. The first leap 
is a sheer drop between the walls of the moun- 
tain seventy feet below down into a large basin, 
from which it again plunges sixty feet into a 
second basin sending up a cloud of spray which 
drenches the near by forest, while the last leap 

197 



The North Country. 

is a plunge down a slanting chute into the beau- 
tiful pool below. No words can describe the 
feeling of awe with which we stood in the mists 
and gazed upward at the surpassing beauty and 
power of the falls, nor picture the blue and 
white of the falling water, nor the spray rising 
in clouds against the wall of the Forest cov- 
ered mountains, nor the wonderful soft, old 
rose tint of the rocks. 

For days we had lived the river's life and 
loved each mile of its course; now at the last, 
before it became lost in the great lake, it was 
speaking to us in the fullness of its strength 
and beauty. It was as if all the beauty of the 
hundred miles of rapids and ripples and pools 
and mountains and Forests had been concen- 
trated for this final exhibition of the inspiring 
might and grandeur at which we gazed in spell- 
bound rapture, as the wonderful vision of an 
overpowering and soul inspiring Nature. 



198 



The Last Stage. 
CHAPTER XVI. 

THE LAST STAGE. 

"Pleasant was their journey homeward — 
In and out among the pine trees, 
Through the shadows and the sunshine — 
Then along the sandy margin 
Of the Lake, the Big-Sea-Water." 

From the Big Falls the trail leads down the 
mountain to the foot of the rapids two and one- 
half miles away, but the portage is very smooth 
and delightful down hill traveling through 
bushes weighed down with large red raspber- 
ries, in the prime of ripeness. This portage 
we made in the record time of forty-five min- 
utes and pitched our tents across the Trail on 
the shelving edge of the mountain, down which 
we could descend sixty feet to get to our canoes 
which were drawn up on the rocks at the edge 
of the rapids. At this point we were to remain 
for four days, if our provisions permitted, fish- 
ing, running the rapids, or leading a life of 
exquisite ease as the fancy chose. 

The first night in camp after supper Antoine 
and I made an inventory of our provisions ; we 

199 



The North Country. 

found our supplies of rice, beans, sugar, pota- 
toes, dried apples, prunes and coffee entirely 
exhausted; there was sufficient corn meal for 
one batch of corn bread ; the butter looked as if 
by careful use it might last out four days ; there 
was plenty of bacon, side meat, flour and tea. 
We decided, however, that though we had 
enough to prevent hunger, yet three meals a 
day with only bread and tea and bacon were apt 
to become monotonous ; so in the morning Nesh- 
wabun went out for partridges, Masinaqua set 
snares for rabbits across their runway; 
Doctor, ''Angel Child" and myself went out for 
berries and filled our kettles with delicious red 
raspberries, while Antoine broke a Trail to the 
big pool at the foot of the falls and took nine 
trout. Thus with game and fruit the problem 
of variety of food was satisfactorily solved, 

Antoine gave us a variation in pastry by pro- 
ducing light feathery doughnuts sweetened with 
saccharine, which proved a most welcome addi- 
tion. The evenings we spent lounging about 
the fire playing cards, recounting the different 
experiences during the day, living over again 
in dreams incidents of the trip, and finally roll- 
ing into the blankets were lulled by the dash of 

200 



The Last Stage. 

the rapids into refreshing slumber. The real 
test whether a person suffers by reason of a 
scanty menu, is when he talks of past feasts 
at which he has participated, but even during 
the last days, there was no mention made by 
any one of a particularly good dinner enjoyed 
long ago ; I think each was quite content. Sev- 
eral days, to our supply of partridge and rab- 
bit, I contributed duck, while for the Indians' 
kettle Neshwabun one afternoon brought in a 
porcupine which he had killed with a club. 

Our last day was one of drenching wetness ; 
Antoine, Masinaqua and I had gone down the 
rapids to the point where a Trail led down four 
miles to an Indian Mission and on our return a 
rain began, which soon covered the Trail with 
five inches of water ; it was such a downpour as 
we had enjoyed at Hawk Mountain except that 
we were not viewing it from the dry shelter of 
the tent, but small rivulets were running down 
the back and neck in the most friendly fashion. 
On taking the canoe we had to pole up the 
rapids four miles to camp in the drenching 
showers, but we arrived after four hours of 
constant work against the current; it had by 

201 



The North Country. 

the way taken us but twenty minutes to make 
the same distance going down stream. 

When we arrived in camp drenched to the 
skin we found Dad and Chum playing solitaire 
in one tent, while "Angel Child" and Doctor 
had gone to bed in order to dry their clothes. 
It seems that these two worthies after their din- 
ner had decided to *Hake a little walk" and had 
accordingly traveled back over the Trail nearly 
to the Big Falls, at which point the clouds 
opened and precipitated bucketsful of rain upon 
them. They were quickly soaked so that they 
did not mind the water soaked bushes which 
met above the Trail and which contained show- 
ers of water stored upon their leafy branches, 
for they were as wet as possible and the water 
could add nothing more to their discomfort, but 
on reaching camp they had gone to bed. 

A wet day in camp is by no means an 
unpleasant experience; in the first place, if 
you have been out and become thoroughly 
drenched as I had, you will not be disturbed 
about the matter for your woolen garments keep 
you warm, and, you recall that the water is 
clean and fresh from Heaven, and at all events 
you are in no worse state of dampness than the 

202 



The Last Stage, 

rest of the landscape. If you have kept dry as 
Chum and Dad had done, you are happy that 
you have no garments to dry over the fire at 
night. But whether one is wet or dry, and 
though the rain pours in miniature floods from 
the gray low hanging clouds, and though the 
mists turn midday in the Forest into twilight, 
yet such a day in the woods does not produce a 
gray depressing mood as is often the case in 
town, for in the Forest there seems to be a 
friendly spirit permeating everything, and even 
the drenching rain cannot drown your cheerful 
spirits. 

As I came into camp and looked into Chum's 
tent she was sitting on a poncho and red blanket 
and singing to herself in undisguised content- 
ment. She remarked **It is too bad you are 
wet, but I do love this glorious rain ; it has such 
a cheerful patter as it plays upon the tent." 

That night after dinner we built an immense 
fire with additional fire wood placed near by for 
fuel, and the Indians, Antoine and the rest of 
us sat around it and smoked, and regretfully 
remembered that it was our last friendship fire 
in the Forest; for weeks we had been together 
in the close grasp of Nature, on the tossing 

203 



The North Country. 

waves of the lakes and in the leaps of the rapids, 
and our Indians had amply merited their right 
to sit with US and hold silent Council at the 
friendship fire. Thus we sat far into the night 
with only our unspoken thoughts; no one can 
speak the intimate thoughts that crowd about 
him at such a time, except to say that, 
had the note been spoken, it would have been 
in the minor key of Parting; but as the logs 
burned down to glowing coals which threw their 
red light upon the copper colored and white 
faces encircling the fire, there was no need for 
words between these friends of the Trail, for 
we all understood the language of silence. 

In the morning we broke camp; this took 
much longer than usual for every one seemed 
extremely unwilling to pull up stakes and fill the 
duffel bags, but finally we had loaded our canoes 
and were ready to start down on the rapids. 
Chum made a pretense at the last moment that 
she had forgotten something and climbed back 
up the mountain to our camp ; she merely wished 
to take a last look alone up the dim forest Trail 
whence we had come and to gaze at the ashes 
and charred remains of our cheering friend- 
ship fires. 

204 



The Last Stage. 

In descending the river we shot ducks, and 
came upon a deer which had evidently been 
caught in the rapids above the falls and dashed 
down to destruction on the rocks below; sev- 
eral sandy beaches were also freshly trampled 
by large herds of deer that had come to the 
water to drink in the early morning. Thus we 
floated down stream, lost in our silent reflec- 
tions until we came upon some Indians who sa- 
luted us with their friendly ^'Bou jou," and 
invited us to join them and share their large 
patch of blue berries ; after tarrying with them 
for an hour however, we again embarked our 
canoes. Within a mile of the great lake we 
came upon the picturesque falls of the Magpie 
and forced our canoe as far as possible into the 
swirling rapids at its base ; then we visited the 
nearby falls of the Wawa, and after a season 
of admiration pushed on to the Hudson's Bay 
Fort at the mouth of the river. Here was the 
fort where Antoine was born and where he and 
Biddequaw had spent their boyhood days. The 
visit here was full of other memories for these 
two old friends. The logs driven against the 
banks to protect them from being washed away 
had been placed there twenty-five years ago by 

205 



The North Country. 

our chief guide ; in the carpenter shop his father 
had built canoes to carry the supplies to Moose 
Factory and bring back the furs, for in the 
olden days this fort had been a great depot; 
Antoine told of having seen the tepees of the 
Indians who had come in to trade extending in 
lines along the river a mile and a half long. 

On pushing out into Lake Superior we found 
the blue water as calm as a mirror shimmering 
in the sun, and after coasting along the shore 
a short distance we beached the canoes on the 
sand and prepared our last meal, which was a 
feast. The menu consisted of ducks, par- 
tridges, rabbit, bacon, tea, bread and butter 
and red raspberries ; our butter pail was empty 
at the end of our meal. Here we dried our 
tents in the sun and distributed presents to the 
guides and made ready to cross over the four 
miles of lake to the point where we should meet 
the fish boat the next morning. Arriving at a 
Frontier Inn we purchased supplies for our 
guides who were starting back over the moun- 
tain Trail and through the lakes and rivers to 
their distant dwelling places on the Height of 
Land. It was with deep regret that we parted 
with these simple forest friends who had so 

206 



The Last Stage. 

faithfully cared for us and ministered to our 
happiness in the North Country, and we stood 
on the beach waving our hats in response to 
their parting signals until the canoes vanished 
in the rising mists of Superior. Our forest life 
had come to an end. 

I looked at Chum who, I have forgotten to 
mention, is my Lady Mother, and marvelled 
that a woman of her age could have endured 
so rough a journey, for she was the first white 
woman to make the entire trip ; but so far from 
suffering any hardship she had gloried in the 
freedom of the Forest and the life had made 
her look ten years younger. The bronzed faces 
of the rest of the party spoke of the recreating 
forces they too had builded into their bodies, 
and their eyes seemed to reflect the clearness of 
the waters and the pure reaches of mountains 
and Forest. All deplored the necessity which 
called us back to the noise and rattle of the 
cities, yet the Forest was destined to constantly 
come back to us in increasing power, for who 
can number the years of remembrance? 

In our waking moments our fancy travels 
back over the mountain trail through the crys- 
tal lakes to the camp on Hawk Lake, and the 

207 



The North Country. 

peace of the mountains and the might of the 
storm again stir the depths of our being ; again 
we are riding the waves and shipping the 
waters of the Lake of the Great Spirit, and still 
do we breathe the clean spicy odors of the 
Forest, while in our dreams the river steals 
into our \dsion and lulls and soothes us with its 
many voices. 

For weeks you have nestled close in the 
bosom of a friendly Nature and have listened 
wonderingly to the heart beats of the Great 
Mother, and never again can you be as you 
were before; for the Spirit of the Mountains 
has stolen away your pettiness and has cleared 
your vision with its larger view; and the river 
has taught you a wise theory of life; and as 
you ''list to Nature's teachings" you know that 
once again you will enter into the blessed sanc- 
tum of the Great Mother, for a season of happy 
communion, for deep calls unto deep, and al- 
ready you hear voices calling you as a faint 
echo of a muezzin's call to worship, and you 
know that the Spirit of the North Country has 
entered your soul. 



208 



AUG t6 !90S 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




